News
Thursday, February 23, 2012
No support for Afghan talks until Kabul’s backing: Khar* Foreign minister says Karzai still unclear on holding peace talks with Taliban in Qatar
* Authorities do not know where Mullah Omar is
LAHORE: Pakistan will not support a US-driven initiative to start Afghan peace talks in Qatar until it is clear that they have the backing of the Kabul government, says Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar.
In an interview with The Guardian, Khar said that even after a visit by Afghan President Hamid Karzai to Islamabad, it was unclear whether he really wanted his government to hold talks with the Taliban in Qatar.
Over the course of the past two months, Karzai initially objected to Qatar being a venue for talks, recalling his ambassador in protest when the initiative was announced. He then appeared to relent, but recently raised the possibility of separate talks in Saudi Arabia, to the irritation of Washington officials.
“We are waiting for him to determine the course of action of his government and once that is done, we will want to be seen to be fully supporting it… The messages from Kabul are a bit confusing. At first they say they are supporting it but they say they are recalling their ambassador because they think they have not been taken into confidence,” Khar said.
“For us, the dangers of being supportive of something where there is not enough clarity on whether the Afghan government is fully behind it, fully owns it, fully drives it, are too high. The stakes are far too high,” the minister said.
Khar insisted that Pakistan would not hinder the effort to hold talks in Qatar, and denied reports that Islamabad had blocked some Taliban officials from flying to Doha to participate. However, The Guardian said, in a reminder of the fragility of the Afghan-Pakistani relationship, the minister again rejected Afghan pressure to allow Kabul officials have access to Taliban figures they believe to be in Pakistan.
“I am not an authority on where Mullah Omar is, but I do know that Pakistani authorities do not know where Mullah Omar is. I know that much,” she said, adding, “Pakistan’s view is that everything the Afghans ask us which is doable, which is realistic, which is based on facts, we will do… but it has to be based on facts.”
However, Khar would not say whether Afghan officials would be allowed to meet one of Omar’s deputies, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.
Pakistan’s ambivalence over the effort to open a dialogue in Qatar has contributed to the poor state of Islamabad’s relationship with the US, according to The Guardian. It said Khar was due to meet US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in London this week, but she said she had no power to seek an improvement in the relationship until parliament had published the results of its own review.
Khar denied that her government was delegating a politically tricky issue, arguing that the parliamentary review of US policy was “something to be proud about” and would improve bilateral relations in the long-term. The minister praised Pakistan’s relations with the UK, which she said worked well because they were “predictable”.
Separately, Khar attended a reception arranged by Pakistani High Commissioner in UK Wajid Shamsul Hassan.
She also visited an exhibition by Aik Hunar Aik Nagar (AHAN) that featured handicrafts and other products from various regions of Pakistan. daily times monitor/app
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk