ISLAMABAD - Senior officials of Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process - a joint initiative of Afghanistan and Turkey established in November 2011 – finalised after daylong deliberations on Monday the agenda of ministerial meeting to be held in Islamabad later this year.
The meeting hosted by Pakistan at Foreign Office, called upon Afghanistan’s all neighbours to pool their resources for peace and development in the war-torn neighbour by joining hands to ensure peace and security in that country.
Pakistan hosted the meeting and co-chaired it with Hekmat Khalil Karzai, Deputy Foreign Minister of Afghanistan.
Representatives from other 12 participating countries, 16 supporting countries and 12 regional and international organisations attended the meeting.
The Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process was launched in 2011 to bring together regional countries to promote peace and prosperity in Afghanistan through concerted efforts of participating and supporting countries as well as international and regional organisations engaged in the process.
Pakistan is the co-chair for 2015 with Afghanistan (permanent co-chair) and it will host the fifth ministerial conference at Islamabad later this year.
As the co-chair, Pakistan is taking initiatives to take the process forward from the Beijing Conference held in October, 2014. Addressing the inaugural session, Advisor to the Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said it was for the first time that the two brotherly countries were jointly leading a regional platform - a platform that was driven by the firm belief that peace and prosperity in the region could only be achieved in an environment of trust and mutual confidence. The advisor said peace and security was essential for socio-economic development of the regional countries.
He said Afghanistan held immense significance for Pakistan not only because both the countries shared a common border or ethnic affinity, but also because together they could usher in a new era of regional connectivity and regional cooperation in line with the vision of transformation decade enunciated by President Ashraf Ghani. He said inspired by a famous poem by Allama Iqbal the term “Heart of Asia” (Qalb-e-Asya) refered to Afghanistan’s location at the intersection of Asia’s three regions viz. South Asia, Central Asia, and the Middle East. He said Iqbal’s love for Afghanistan, its scholars and mystics, its rulers and people and its customs and traditions was unlimited.
Sartaj Aziz said while terming it Heart of Asia, Allama Iqbal rightly identified that Afghanistan would be the determining factor in the peace and stability of the region in times to come and that problems in this country, if not addressed effectively, would spread to the whole region.
Sartaj Aziz said, “We hope to add to the dynamism and depth of the process by taking some tangible decisions that can help pace up the process of regional growth and prosperity.” He said, “We are firmly committed to ensure that the transformation phase on which Afghanistan has embarked upon, becomes a harbinger of regional growth and prosperity.”
He said the positive trajectory of bilateral relations with Afghanistan, particularly since last year, had lent vigour to the initiatives taken at collective fora.
He said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s visit to Afghanistan and visit of President Ashraf Ghani to Pakistan proved to be milestones in strengthening deep-rooted friendship with Afghanistan.
Referring to recent visit of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to Kabul, Sartaj Aziz said it had added a new dimension to mutual commitment for creating a peaceful and prosperous neighbourhood in the region.
“We see our collective efforts for peace and reconciliation as the ultimate culmination to bring about a lasting settlement of the conflicts that has been raging, in one form or the other, for the last three decades and we have also resolved to eliminate terrorism through coordinated efforts,” he added. Sartaj Aziz said, “We have agreed that the enemies of Afghanistan are enemies of Pakistan and we are confident to effectively face the challenges that face us today by mutual cooperation for moving forward on the path of peace, progress and prosperity.”
Secret peace talks in China
Special correspondent adds from New York: An Afghan peace envoy held secret talks with Taliban leaders in China last week which were also attended by Chinese officials and representatives of Pakistan’s spy agency ISI, a media report has said.
The two-day talks were aimed at discussing preconditions for a possible peace process, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources briefed on the matter by the parties. “These were talks about talks,” one diplomat said. The meeting, held on May 19-20 in the northwestern Chinese city of Urumqi, was facilitated by Pakistan’s intelligence agency. Although Afghanistan’s peace-negotiating body often holds talks with the Taliban, such high-level meetings are unusual, the WSJ reported.
The three former Taliban officials who attended are based in Pakistan and are close to the Taliban’s leadership council, based in Quetta. The meeting was also attended by Chinese officials and members of Pakistan’s spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate (ISI). However, in a statement Sunday, the Taliban denied the meeting took place. Pakistan’s support of a peace process is seen as crucial, as much of the Taliban leadership has been based in the country since 2001 – and its fighters have used border areas between the two countries as an operational base.
The meeting’s China location is also key, as Beijing has made increased efforts to play the role of mediator in the conflict, facilitating conversations between Afghanistan and the Taliban in regard to peace talks. According to the Journal , the Afghan delegation in China was led by Muhammad Masoom Stanikzai, who until last week was the most prominent member of the High Peace Council, the country’s peace-negotiating body. The meetings come after a months-long diplomatic outreach led by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to reset ties with Pakistan after years of frosty relations in a bid to revive talks aimed at ending Afghanistan’s 13-year war.
Muhammad Asem, a former lawmaker and associate of Ghani’s coalition partner Abdullah Abdullah also participated in the Urumqi meeting. The three former senior Taliban officials who attended —Mullah Abdul Jalil, Mullah Muhammad Hassan Rahmani and Mullah Abdul Razaq— are based in Pakistan and they are close to the Taliban’s Quetta-based leadership council, the newspaper reported. Maulvi Qalamuddin, a former top Taliban official, said that the meeting represented a very-high level effort to discuss peace. “These people are more important than those in Qatar,” Qalamuddin, who is now a member of the High Peace Council,told the Journal. “These talks are held secretly, and only a few people know about it,” he added.