Why in news?
- Imran Khan, newly sworn-in Prime minister of Pakistan received a goodwill message from the president of Afghanistan.
- Both the states are suffering from the terrorism they once helped nurtured.
What are the issues of various countries in the region?
- The north-south national divide continues to be a decision-making obstacle for Afghanistan.
- While for Pakistan, the presence of India in Afghanistan is an issue to be solved.
- The American view of Afghanistan has changed.
- America plane to leave after setting up a strategic bulwark against China in the region with India’s help.
How Pakistan is affected?
- It has been looking more closely at the increasingly hostile Pashtun terrorists inside its own tribal belt.
- Actions taken to clean up the sanctuaries of terror have hurt the local population.
- The affected local population is staging protests now.
- However, regular terrorist attacks on the Shia of Quetta and Chinese workers in Balochistan signal penetrations that Pakistan can no longer tolerate.
- Further Pakistan also keeps on hinting at the Indian presence in Afghanistan.
What are the roadblocks in the better relationship?
- Afghanistan has never really accepted the Durand Line as the frontier separating “the nation”.
- However, non-Pashtuns of Afghanistan would readily accept the Durand Line.
- Pakistan has ignored the non Pashtuns of the Afghanistan
- The US is to leave the region.
- The Taliban refuse to talk to the US but are travelling in the region discussing the conflict.
- Their attack on Ghazni before Eid left the city helpless for days.
- The Taliban refused the truce Ghazani offered.
What is the recent development?
- Zalmay Khalilzad is going to be the new American special envoy to Kabul.
- Khalilzad is a Pashtun from the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif.
What does the appointment of new special envoy mean?
- The US is not happy with the situation developing in favour of China and Iran.
- So USA is sending Khalilzad as its troubleshooter.
- As Khalilzad is in Kabul, Pakistan is going to find it difficult to engage with Afghanistan on the lines it is familiar with.
- Though the new Prime Minister of Pakistan known to be a leader capable of taking tough decisions, he has learned to be “flexible” on the Taliban
- As head of its ruling party, he had to deal with the province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa where the Taliban terrorists can kill people.
- Taliban has financially supported religious schools connected with the killers in the province.
What lies ahead?
- With new leadership in Pakistan the relations between the two countries will be closely watched.
- However with a not so friendly special envoy assisting the President of Afghanistan in Kabul, Pakistan has to engage with all stakeholders to stabilize the region.
Source: Indian Express
