Afghan peace

To restart the Afghan peace process, the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) should try to bring all factions of the Afghan Taliban to the negotiating table. Just a few factions of the Taliban willing to participate in the dialogue process will render the whole effort meaningless. In this regard, the role of the US and China is very important.

Second, with Pakistan publically accepting that it has some leverage over the Afghan Taliban, its role has become more important vis-a-vis peace efforts in Afghanistan and within the QCG. In case of failure, the Afghan government will openly accuse Pakistan of using the Taliban as a tool to sabotage peace in Afghanistan. A peaceful and stable Afghanistan is in the interest of Pakistan. Therefore, Pakistan and Afghanistan should stop the blame-game and cooperate in bringing peace and prosperity to the region instead.

Rafiuddin Mehsud

South Waziristan Agency