Karazi has out lived his usefulness.
After The US, Karzai Gets Tough With Pakistan - Analysis Eurasia Review | Eurasia Review
Fresh from the success of his “rant” diplomacy against the U.S., Afghan President Hamid Karzai now has Pakistan in his firing line. The provocation came on March 25, when a top Pakistani Foreign Ministry official was quoted by the media as saying, “Right now, Karzai is the biggest impediment to the (Afghan) peace process. In trying to look like a saviour, he is taking Afghanistan straight to hell.” The bureaucrat also said that Pakistan was discouraged by Karzai’s erratic statements and provocations, probably designed to portray him as being very decisive in his dealings, back home in Afghanistan.
The Pakistani Foreign Ministry, however, soon refuted these remarks, saying that they did not reflect Pakistan’s approach towards the reconciliation process. “We believe in positive engagement with the Afghan government.” The Afghan government responded by saying: “Such comments from irresponsible individuals are part of a failed propaganda attempt to undermine the ongoing historic process of transition.”
The situation worsened on March 27 when Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Jawed Ludin said in an interview that officials in Kabul “are in a bit of a state of shock, at once again being confronted by the depth of Pakistan’s complacency” towards peace negotiations with the Taliban, and that Afghanistan is ready to move forward on the talks without Pakistani involvement. It was the first time that Kabul has suggested the possibility of moving ahead with the peace process without its neighbour, as Pakistan is seen as vital to stabilising Afghanistan because of its long ties with insurgent groups, including the Afghan Taliban. He added that Pakistan was changing the goal post every time the two countries reached an understanding.
The deputy foreign minister also stressed that the High Peace Council should spearhead all Afghan peace efforts. He was not happy with the Pakistani suggestion that other Afghan political parties should be included in the peace talks with the Taliban. Afghanistan expressed its concern with what it called Pakistan’s attempt to “sideline” President Karzai’s government in the peace talks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry during his recent visit to Kabul.
In a separate, but according to some analysts coordinated, interview to The Wall Street Journal on March 27, Karzai’s chief of staff Abdel Karim Khurram said that a trilateral summit with Pakistani and British leaders in London last month “demonstrated the interfering but delusional tendency of some in Pakistan who choose to ignore Afghanistan’s sovereignty… and continue to want to… re-exert control in Afghanistan through armed proxies”. He added that the Afghan government found the Pakistani pre-conditions for moving forward on negotiations with Taliban, outlined at the summit, as unacceptable. At the core of the disagreement is the role Pakistan wants to play in the region post-2014.
Afghanistan also canceled a trip by Afghanistan National Army (ANA) officers to Pakistan due to “unacceptable Pakistani shelling” in the eastern border areas on March 27. More than two dozen Pakistani artillery shells were fired into the province of Kunar on March 25 and 26. Eleven ANA officers had been scheduled to take part in a simulated military exercise at Pakistan Army’s Staff College at Quetta. Afghanistan had sent additional troops and long-range artillery to the border with Pakistan in September last year as tensions grew over cross-border shellings which killed dozens of Afghan civilians.
Pakistan, on the other hand, has been accusing Afghanistan of providing safe haven to militants on the Afghan side of the border, particularly in Kunar, who are using these regions to launch cross-border raids inside Pakistan. According to Pakistan, the shelling in Kunar was a local incident involving some intrusion from the Afghan side to which the military authorities had responded. Pakistan has criticised the Afghan decision to cancel a military trip as an “overreaction”. The visit by the ANA officers was a part of the many initiatives agreed to by the Afghan defence minister during his visit to Pakistan early this year, aimed to increase cooperation between the militaries of the two countries.
Another irritant in the bilateral relations was a report presented to the Pakistani Supreme Court on March 26 by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Directorate which stated that the Afghan government is providing “strong support” to the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan and its affiliated militant groups, known collectively as TTS. The report stated that the “recent nexus of TTS with Afghan government is likely to enhance the terrorist activities” in Pakistan’s tribal regions on the border with Afghanistan.
From the peace process perspective, Kabul has also been critical of Islamabad after Pakistani religious scholars boycotted a conference of clerics from both countries to condemn the use of suicide attacks in the name of Islam. The Pakistan government, however, continues to maintain that it is sincere and serious in advancing the peace process and is facilitating peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan. A Pakistan government spokesperson said: “We think, we are in fact convinced, that a peaceful, stable, prosperous Afghanistan is in Pakistan’s interest and in the interest of the region.”
Karzai, has travelled to Qatar on March 30 to discuss the opening of a Taliban office there. His visit is a significant effort to reach out to the Taliban and, understandably, he is looking for some substantial contribution to the Afghan peace process from other stakeholders, including Pakistan. The recent success with U.S. in securing the transfer of the Bagram prison and assurance of withdrawal of U.S. Special Forces from Wardak seems to have inspired him to tackle Pakistan. There are also indications that the Afghan government would look to urge senior Taliban figures, recently handed over by the U.S. at the Bagram prison, to aid in the peace process. The present skirmish is also a reminder from Karzai to Pakistan that the “lead role” accorded to it with respect to the Afghan Peace Talks, after the London Trilateral, is time-sensitive and the signing of the SPA between the two countries, conditional.