Khalilzad: Pakistani Lawmakers Should Push Islamabad to Talk to Kabul
Former U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad says Pakistani parliamentarians who favor resolving disputes through dialogue should encourage their government to engage in talks with Afghanistan.
Referring to a recent session of Pakistan’s parliament, during which lawmakers discussed the impact on Pakistan of restrictions on trade routes with Afghanistan, Khalilzad wrote that members of parliament should ask their government: “What commitments and assurances Pakistan has been seeking, exactly, and what was the seemingly unsatisfactory response from Afghanistan?”
Citing Afghan officials, Khalilzad said Afghanistan has offered written security guarantees, worked through joint coordination mechanisms to address security concerns, shown readiness for third-party involvement in verification efforts, and issued a fatwa prohibiting Afghans from taking part in attacks inside Pakistan.
The Afghan-born American diplomat said the Pakistani public should know what specific objections Islamabad has to Afghanistan’s proposals and why it continues to claim that diplomacy has failed.
His remarks came after Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defense announced on Friday that it had targeted Islamic State (ISIS) hideouts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
The ministry said the sites had been used to plan and launch attacks inside Afghanistan.
