Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Abdullah Abdullah on Wednesday chided Pakistan over its policy regarding terrorist groups waging war in Afghanistan.
Despite international efforts to restore peace in Afghanistan, Islamabad still does not realize that the conflict in Afghanistan is not in the interests of Pakistan, said Abdullah.
“Over the past fifteen years, our neighbor did not realize that by supporting groups at war cannot benefit the interests of any country including Afghanistan,” said Abdullah.
Deputy foreign minister for policy Hikmat Khalil Karzai also criticized the counter-terrorism approach of western countries and said some countries in have established ties with the sponsors of terrorist organizations. However he did not give further details about the nature of these ties.
“To the point where eventually it started to backfire. Because on the other side, there was no reciprocity. We did not see goodwill coming towards us. Peace in Afghanistan is not just peace for Afghanistan, but it will lead to stability in the region, if there is stability in the region, there is an enormous amount of growth in the region,” said Karzai.
“It has become sort of a fashion for some western countries to engage with different donors, to engage with different militant groups, at the same time not to realize the reality of what they are dealing with,” Karzai added.
On Wednesday, delegates from Afghanistan and some foreign countries including northern Ireland gathered in Kabul to discuss ways to boost the Afghan peace process.
“The door is open; the pages, what we have written for the future, are blank; for yourselves do not … squander the opportunity,” said visiting former Irish political prisoner Leon Maski.
“There were developments and setbacks in relations with Pakistan. However the outcomes were totally diverse, because the opposing side was not sincere with us,” said Karzai.
As the National Unity Government (NUG) under President Ashraf Ghani and his Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah try to bring militant groups to the peace table and bring an end to the decade-long insurgency, delegates at today’s gathering also voiced support over a recent peace accord between the Afghan government and Hizb-e-Islami party leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
“Peace is much more than just a paper agreement. There has to be some kind of post-conflict reconciliation. There has to be understanding that peace will be a process which has to inspire, but also promote changes in society, we need to reshape our region,” said EU ambassador to Afghanistan Franz Michael Melbin.
This comes after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) recently applied to the UN sanctions committee to lift sanctions against Hekmatyar.
Afghan officials have said that committees had been formed and tasked to resolve issues such as the release of Hizb-e-Islami prisoners and the disarmament of the group in line with the peace accord.