Pakistan, US in war of words

ISLAMABAD: A war of words has ensued after US President Donald Trump’s policy speech, with the US State Department repeating the do-more demand and Pakistan reiterating its ‘have-done-enough’ stance.

The US State Department was quoted by the media as having said that terrorists’ havens existed on both sides of the Pak-Afghan border, demanding Pakistan eliminate them on its side of the border.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa told a four-state meeting in Tajikistan on Sunday that Pakistan had cleared its areas of terrorists. Assuring the fullest cooperation to Afghanistan, he said Pakistan could not bring the Afghan war into Pakistan.

He stated this while talking to Afghan Chief of the General Staff Gen Sharif Yaftali on the sidelines of the meeting of Quadrilateral Counter Terrorism Coordination Mechanism (QCCM) in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. The Afghan situation was discussed candidly sharing concerns.

According to a press release issued by the ISPR, the COAS said that Pakistan has already cleared all its areas indiscriminately and has started unilateral border security measures, including fencing. Besides border security management, the other key factor for enduring peace is the dignified repatriation of Afghan refugees.

The COAS reassured his Afghan counterpart that Pakistan is open to any suggestion that facilitates peace in Afghanistan. In this spirit, he offered to form a Pak-Afghan Army working group to jointly work and formulate security recommendations for government level discussion aimed at addressing mutual concerns. The Afghan CGS agreed to the proposal and thanked the COAS for his relentless efforts towards peace.

Earlier, Gen Bajwa, Gen Li Zuocheng of China, Gen Sobirzoda Imomali Abdurrahim of Tajikistan and Gen Sharif Yaftali of Afghanistan attended the QCCM meeting.All the four leaders welcomed the QCCM initiative and expressed the hope that an inclusive and cooperative regional approach will prove the best for eradication of terrorism.

Speaking on the occasion, Gen Bajwa highlighted the achievements of Pakistan in the fight against terrorism for eliminating terrorists’ safe havens from its soil. He said that terrorism, being a transnational threat, could only be defeated through intelligence sharing and coordinated effective border management.

The participants also signed an outline of cooperative mechanism which will come into force after its endorsement by respective governments.Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif urged the US to refrain from blaming its failures of 16 years in Afghanistan on Pakistan. Asif said 40 percent of Afghanistan is still under the Taliban’s control.

“If the US doesn’t trust Pakistan, it should make preparations to send the Afghan refugees back,” he said. “Pakistan has hosted them [Afghan refugees] for nearly 35 years now.”He said that Pakistan had been the US’ trusted ally for the past 70 years, and incurred many direct and indirect losses due to this alliance.

“We want to clear any misunderstandings with the US through maintaining this relationship,” Asif said. The foreign minister stressed that peace in Afghanistan could be restored. “Peace in Afghanistan is important for Pakistan too, and that is why the US is trying to find a solution to the Afghan issue,” he said.

Asif said that over 90 percent of the attacks on Pakistan were carried out from Afghanistan.“Afghanistan hasn’t created a post on the border till 650 kilometres,” he said. “We want US assistance in installing fences on the border.” He further alleged that Afghan soldiers were selling American arms and ammunition to the Taliban.

He said the world should recognise the sacrifices of Pakistan to wipe out terrorism. No country has done more than Pakistan to end terrorism and no country has suffered more than Pakistan, he said.

Pakistan is committed to taking action against terrorists without any discrimination and its efforts to wipe out terrorism would continue, he said.On the other hand, the US Acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs and Acting Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Alice G Wells, has postponed her scheduled visit after she was “‘requested” by Pakistan to wait for a “mutually-convenient time”.

Earlier, the US State Department had announced that Wells would reach Islamabad on Monday on a trip that would also see her going to Dhaka and Colombo.Islamabad was added to her itinerary only after Washington saw a strong reaction from Pakistan for being belittled and threatened by President Donald Trump when he announced his strategic policy for the region.

“At the request of the Government of Pakistan, the visit of the US delegation has been postponed until a mutually-convenient time,” spokesman at the Foreign Office told the media.Wells, if she was allowed to visit Pakistan, would have been the first senior official to interact with the government after Trump’s announcement.

However, Gen John W Nicholson, the US commander in Kabul, says discussions on Afghanistan were being held in “private” between the US and Pakistan. He did not elaborate.It is not often that the Pakistani government has shown spine in the face of threats from Washington and by telling the State Department that officials concerned are not available, a clear message has gone through that enough is enough.

Both Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif and Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua are in the town, and the only person abroad is the army chief, Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, who is attending a conference on Afghanistan in Tajikistan.

Some say Pakistan’s ‘request’ to Washington is some sort of a snub after being threatened by Trump just a few days ago. “But who is available at the last moment notice?,” was one view in Islamabad.It was exactly three weeks earlier on August 3 that Wells in a meeting with Tehmina said that the US acknowledged Pakistan’s sacrifices in the fight against terrorism.

“Ambassador Wells agreed on the importance of a strong partnership between the United States and Pakistan and gave US perspective on how to move forward this relationship in the coming years. Ambassador Wells reiterated that the objective of bilateral cooperation was to seek a stable, secure and prosperous Pakistan,” a statement from the Foreign Office had stated at the time.

Confusion in the Trump administration is apparent where on the one hand, a desperate attempt is being made to reach out to Pakistan while, simultaneously, there are accusations from Gen Nicholson.

He says the US was aware of Afghan Taliban leadership’s presence in Peshawar and Quetta, adding that the military would continue to put pressure on Taliban sanctuaries inside and outside Afghanistan.At the same time, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson asked Pakistan to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table.

While there may be no official meeting between the two sides for the time being, Khawaja Asif sent a clear message both to American generals and the State Department when he clarified, “Afghan Taliban were the US and Afghanistan’s problem, not Pakistan’s. If the US doesn’t trust us, it should repatriate Afghan immigrants in Pakistan itself. Pakistan has managed to cleanse its land from terrorism.”

Of late, the issue of Afghan refugees has been continuously highlighted by the government, as there are strong views that it is time Kabul recalled its citizens who have been on the Pakistani soil for decades now.

On Saturday, Gen John W Nicholson claimed that the US was aware of Afghan Taliban leadership’s presence in Peshawar and Quetta. He said the issue of sanctuaries was serious, which needed to be addressed. In an exclusive interview with Tolo News, Gen Nicholson discussed US President Donald Trump’s recent speech in which he revealed his long-awaited policy on the Afghan war.

“The Quetta shura, Peshawar shura — these shuras are identified by cities inside Pakistan; we know Afghan Taliban leaders are in these areas,” said Gen Nicholson in the interview. “Support for terrorists and insurgents has to be reduced — [it] has to be stopped.”

When asked whether the Taliban leadership in Quetta and Peshawar shouldn’t sleep in peace from now on, he said, “I won’t put words in the (US) president’s mouth but he definitely conveyed this message.”

“It is our mandate to put military pressure on the Taliban,” Gen Nicholson said, adding that Washington was seeking a peaceful solution in Afghanistan. “Taliban need to know they cannot win militarily.”

The US top commander said that while it was possible to find a diplomatic formula in Afghanistan, the United States would continue its military efforts in the country and help the Afghan forces improve their capabilities.