Heart of Asia conference to begin on Tuesday

The United States and Pakistan military leadership have discussed overall regional security situation with particular reference to situation in Afghanistan, ahead of the two-day Heart of Asia Conference. The Conference will be preceded by senior officials meeting today. Mansour himself fooled us for two years, how can we trust this now? According to a joint statement, the NSA discussions covered all issues including Jammu and Kashmir.

A spokesman for Abdullah Abdullah, Afghanistan’s chief executive, said that Ghani will attend the conference, set to be jointly inaugurated by him and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

British Prime Minister David Cameron and Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani during the COP21 World Climate Change Conference 2015 in Le Bourget, north of Paris.

“Foreign ministers from 10 countries have confirmed their participation (in the moot on the future of Afghanistan)”, Pakistan’s Foreign Office said yesterday. The declaration will underline commitments from the Heart of Asia countries and partners for sustained efforts towards promoting peace and security, economic development and connectivity in the region.

Speaking in Kabul, the Afghan president said he is going to Islamabad because “this is not Pakistan’s conference, this is Afghanistan’s conference”. But Afghanistan’s anger is unlikely to change Pakistan’s policies. While the United States and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation have extended their mission till the end of 2016, they can not guarantee peace there.

It was not immediately possible to obtain a comment from the Taliban about the latest fighting.

He also added that the ongoing violence has been enforced on Afghanistan and the Afghan people and reiterated that Afghanistan does not favor war.

His last visit to Pakistan was in November 2014. However, after Kunduz, there is a chill in Pakistan-Afghanistan ties. India wanted only NSA talks to begin with.

Actually, the Heart of Asia process does offer a window of convergence for India and Pakistan to work together. Is Islamabad cooperating? Islamabad says it is willing to cooperate. Afghanistan, in response, pushed back and denied Pakistan’s request for access to Tajikistan, leading to a failure of bilateral trade talks. One such example is the TAPI project.

Pakistan, which has historically supported the Afghan Taliban and wields considerable influence over the insurgents, hosted a milestone first round of peace negotiations in July. “The Afghan government obviously doesn’t know who to talk to from the Taliban”.

The US had earlier welcomed the Bangkok meeting.

Dialogue can continue but other arrows in India’s quiver should remain ready to meet the challenges that Pakistan will inevitably pose in the coming months and years. This is something we must be prepared for at all times.