Pakistan will give its full support to any clear effort by the Afghan government to achieve a political settlement with the Taliban but does not want to lead a peace process that would impose a solution, its foreign minister said on Wednesday. Hina Rabbani Khar said Afghans were tired of attempts by other countries to take charge of their affairs and, for the good of future bilateral ties, Pakistan should not be seen to be interfering too closely.
"We will support any (peace efforts) that are Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-driven. This is our first and last pre-requisite," Khar said in a speech at Chatham House, an international relations think tank in London. "But we will not lead. We cannot lead ... We will only follow what our Afghan brothers and sisters decide is the course of action they will adopt," she said. Khar added that as long as that condition was met, Pakistan would not block any effort by any nation to assist the Afghan government in achieving a political settlement to end war in Afghanistan.
Khar said Afghans had to decide for themselves what was the best course of action to achieve peace in their country. Peace was in Pakistan's national interest but there should be only "one centre of gravity" in the effort to attain it and that should be an Afghan-led process, she said.
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