Washington: Pakistan’s ambassador to Washington Hussain Haqqani has said that there are hurdles in Afghan peace process.
The US goal of peace in Afghanistan is firmly shared by Pakistan, but the two nations face hurdles that include anti-American sentiments in Pakistan, the ambassador on Friday.
“Pakistan and the United States are agreed that reconciliation is something we need to work for,” Haqqani told the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.
But there remains the question of whether Afghan insurgents, many of whose hideouts in Pakistan have long been the source of US-Pakistani tension, are willing negotiators.
“A lot of times the problem is a very small number of people, dedicated and violent, want to impose their will by arms,” Haqqani said.
Haqqani praised the statement of the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the United States was seeking negotiations with Afghan insurgents, while at the same time fighting them on the battlefield.
“Why can’t we just talk to these people and get a settlement? Absolutely, we’d love to do it. If you have (Taliban leader) Mullah Omar’s address please send him a letter on our behalf to come to the table,” Haqqani said.
“The problem is you can’t be half engaged in these negotiations. Do the Taliban have a vision of where they want to be? Are they willing to be part of a pluralist Afghanistan in the future?”
He said Pakistan will “do everything to facilitate discussions between all elements of the Taliban that we can reach.”
Haqqani derided commentators in the region, including Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who last week made comments suggesting that his country would side with Pakistan if a military conflict broke out between Islamabad and Washington.
“Pakistan and the United States are not going to war,” he said.
“Sometimes people forget there are unresolved issues in Pakistan,” he said, citing a societal debate about the role of religion and the nation’s decades-long struggle toward democratically elected governments.
“My request to Americans is to be patient with Pakistan,” he said.
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