Pakistan's role on agenda
2010-03-10 13:05
Islamabad - The role Pakistan plays in any peace effort aimed at the Taliban is likely to rank high on the agenda during Afghan President Hamid Karzai's two-day visit to Islamabad that starts on Wednesday.
Pakistan has made it clear it wants a part in so-called "reconciliation" efforts between the Taliban and the Afghan government, but many Afghans resent Pakistani involvement in their affairs and question its true motives.
Still, Pakistan's history of links to the Afghan Taliban, a group it supported when the militants controlled Afghanistan in the 1990s, could make Islamabad an indispensable player.
In recent weeks, Pakistan also has reportedly arrested several Afghan Taliban leaders who were hiding on its soil. The military has confirmed that those held include Afghan Taliban No 2 Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.
Negotiating table
What's still unclear is exactly why the arrests were made, with some analysts speculating Pakistan is trying to guarantee itself a seat at the negotiating table.
Pakistan has long tried to influence Kabul so that it can have an ally in the region and strengthen its position concerning its longtime rival, India.
New Delhi, too, is trying to curry favour with the Afghans, and both Pakistan and India accuse each other of funding militant groups to destabilise their countries, with Afghanistan often the stage for the strikes.
An Afghan official recently alleged that a Pakistani-based group staged a recent attack in Kabul that killed 17 people, including seven Indians.
The group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, has also been blamed for the 2008 attacks that killed 166 people in Mumbai, India. Pakistan has denied it had anything to do with either attack.
Top Pakistani officials
Karzai was due in Islamabad on Wednesday evening and will stay through Thursday. He is to meet with top Pakistani officials including President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, according to the Pakistani Foreign Ministry.
It is the Afghan leader's first trip to Pakistan since he was re-elected.
Asked whether Pakistan would discuss handing Baradar over to Afghan authorities - which would likely mean the US would have greater access to the Taliban commander - Foreign Ministry spokesperson Abdul Basit said it was too soon to say.
"We are at present carrying out our own investigation," Basit told Pakistan's Express TV channel. "Once our investigations conclude, we will take it from there."
US offensive
The US has sent thousands more troops to Afghanistan and is waging offensives in the country's south, the Taliban's primary stronghold.
Officials say the US is not engaged in any direct peace talks with the Islamist militia, but it has signalled support for the Afghan government's efforts.
Getting key Taliban leaders to agree to talks may be the toughest test.
A three-day conference in Kabul starting on April 29 is expected to lay out a way to pursue the peace effort and a "reintegration" programme aimed at bringing lower-level Taliban fighters back into the broader Afghan society.
- AP