Pompeo stresses Pak role for Afghan 'settlement', calls on Taliban to negotiate
Qureshi said he found Pompeo 'ready to listen' to what Islamabad has to say and said he was returning to Pakistan 'slightly more hopeful' than before
October 04, 2018
KARACHI/WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pressed Afghanistan's Taliban to come to the table to end the long-running war as he called on Pakistan to play a supportive role, a spokesperson for the Department of State said Wednesday.
Pompeo met with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in Washington Tuesday night in the United States' latest outreach to the government of new Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The top US diplomat, who met Khan last month in Islamabad, "emphasized the important role Pakistan could play in bringing about a negotiated settlement in Afghanistan," Heather Nauert, the State Department spokesperson, said.
Pompeo "agreed that there was momentum to advance the Afghan peace process and that the Afghan Taliban should seize the opportunity for dialogue," Nauert said of the meeting, which took place Tuesday.
In this regard, Qureshi — a month after Washington cut $300 million in military aid — said he found Secretary Pompeo "ready to listen" to what Islamabad has to say and said he was returning to Pakistan "slightly more hopeful" than before.
Last month, when the Pakistani and US foreign ministers had first held talks in Islamabad, the former had said both the nations had agreed to "reset" their ties.
Then, last week, he met US President Donald Trump at an unscheduled meeting and explained that the latter had requested him to "rebuild the cordial relations that we have enjoyed in the past".
Qureshi had said he received a “positive response” from Trump who had reiterated that Washington also intends to “rebuild” relations.
Oscillating ties
The US has long alleged that Pakistan provides safe havens at border areas to extremists, accusations that Islamabad and the Pakistan Army has repeatedly denied. Trump has also separately accused Pakistan of duplicity.
Nonetheless, Qureshi said Pakistan would act "in good faith" to jumpstart diplomacy with the Taliban, whose representatives held a breakthrough meeting in July in Qatar with US representatives in a tentative bid to try to end the longest-running US war.
"Pakistan is willing and Pakistan will use all its influence to do that. We feel that Afghanistan's stability and peace are linked to ours," the foreign minister said at the US Institute of Peace, a day after meeting Pompeo.
Countries in the South Asian region need to start realising their responsibilities in order to pave way for peace in Kabul, he noted, adding that he believed the Taliban's shift to negotiations, as well as an unprecedented if temporary ceasefire, was based on the militants' own calculations.
"Even the Taliban recognize that things have changed in Afghanistan. They can at best maintain a stalemate but those days are gone when they will just go in and take over Kabul," Qureshi added.
Defending Pakistan role
The foreign minister said Pakistan "cannot and should not be held responsible for the failures in Afghanistan" as he pointed to disunity in the Kabul government as well as corruption.
"I have seen or read a lot of criticism and think it's unfair not to recognize the contributions Pakistan has made to the successes that you've had in Afghanistan — and you've had successes despite the challenges," he said.
Trump had called for years for a withdrawal from Afghanistan, questioning what more can be achieved from a war that has claimed about 2,400 US lives, but the real estate mogul-turned-politician decided sometime after assuming office to stay the course after advice from security officials.
'Need to work out the differences on' Dr Shakil Afridi
On the other hand, in an interview with Fox News, Qureshi spoke about the issue of Dr Shakil Afridi, the man sentenced to a long prison term for helping US commandos identify the compound in Abbottabad where Osama bin Laden was slain in 2011.
The 2011 raid was carried out on Pakistan's soil — and Afridi's involvement, and subsequent imprisonment, has been a thorn in the US-Pakistan ties.
During the interview Sunday with Fox News, the foreign minister had hinted at the possibility of a compromise regarding Dr Afridi. According to a US publication, he said the newly-elected, Khan-led government may be more flexible on the issue.
"Openings are always there. … [Dr Afridi] is seen in Pakistan in a different context. He is considered as a traitor in Pakistan, whereas the United States saw him as a friend. Thus, we would need to work out the differences on this issue," he said, according to VOA.
Qureshi, nevertheless, maintained that Pakistan appropriately handled the Dr Shakil Afridi case. "We have a legal system, and Afridi went through that process.
"He was provided with an opportunity to plead his case. He was found guilty and was awarded punishment, and he is going through this sentence now," the publication quoted Qureshi as saying, adding that a court, and not politics, decided his future.
When asked to comment on the foreign minister's interview to Fox News during the daily press briefing earlier today, spokesperson Nauert said: "I can confirm with you that the … Secretary did meet with his counterpart at the State Department today. I’m not sure exactly when that was. It was sometime this afternoon.
"I don’t have a readout of that meeting just yet. If I have one to bring for you, provide to you, I certainly will," she added.
'Words with action'
On the other hand, a German media report claimed that the American and Pakistani foreign ministers failed to end the bilateral disagreement on the Afghan conflict.
"While the US acknowledges Pakistan's verbal support for the Afghan peace process, it also complains that Islamabad does not match its words with action and allows militants – particularly the Pakistan-based Haqqani Network – to launch cross-border attacks into Afghanistan," DW Deutsche Welle wrote.
"Qureshi said that peace in South Asia, which is a common goal of both the US and Pakistan, 'would remain elusive until all disputes, including the core dispute of Jammu and Kashmir, were resolved'," it added.
—Editing by Haseem uz Zaman
