Afghan peace process: Experts for collective efforts to keep 'spoilers' at bay

Former diplomats and experts on Afghan Affairs on Tuesday emphasized the need for collective efforts to prevent "spoilers" from derailing the peace process, and insisted that a stable political setup in a peaceful Afghanistan was more important than a Pakistan-friendly government in Kabul.

Ambassador Riaz Ahmad Khan (retired), former foreign secretary, Ambassador Syed Abrar Hussain (retired), Pakistan's former ambassador to Afghanistan, and Ambassador Ayaz Wazir (retd), former ambassador to Afghanistan, were speaking at a symposium on "Intra-Afghan Dialogue: A New Hope", organised by the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI).

Discussing 'The US-Taliban Peace Agreement: An Analysis and Future Prognosis', Ambassador Riaz Mohammad Khan (retd) hoped that external actors would allow space to Afghan factions to work on their differences.

He highlighted that just like many other talks before the Doha agreement, it was unclear whether this one would culminate into something positive.

Riaz agreed with Ambassador Abrar Hussain that a stable government in Kabul and durable peace in Afghanistan was more important than a Pakistan-friendly government. He added that if there was a peaceful and stable Afghanistan it would benefit Pakistan.

On the notion of "strategic depth", Riaz said there was no such thing as "strategic depth".

He added that former army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani had also clarified that there was no "strategic depth", where he had also stated that what Pakistan wanted was a friendly government in Afghanistan.

"I think, this is not the right approach, we should stop it. Because a stable government in Kabul and a peaceful Afghanistan is more important than anything else," Riaz said, adding that "We should keep our eyes on the objective, which is taking the peace process forward."

On the of Durand Line, he said that the issue was taken up with the Taliban when they were in the power in Kabul who stated that they believed that it was not an issue for them and there should be no borders between brotherly Muslim countries. "I think, this is no more an issue between the two countries...it is a de facto boundary," Riaz added.

On the border issue, Ambassador Ayaz Wazir (retd) said Afghanistan had never violated the Durand Line, adding that Afghan leadership recognised it as an internationally-recognised border between the two countries but they refrained from admitting it through public statements for the sake of their internal politics.