President Karzai left for Ankara on Tuesday. He is meeting his Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Prime Minister Rejab Tayeb Erdogan and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari. The tripartite summit started in 2007 is to discuss regional cooperation, particularly the security situation in Afghanistan.
Turkey as a brotherly state has not only been contributing in the reconstruction and development of Afghanistan, but also playing active role in resolving regional issues to seek ways for mutual cooperation between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The Trilateral Summit process launched in Ankara on 30 April 2007 has been more effective than thought. Turkey as a regional power and close friend to Afghanistan and Pakistan has been using its influence for better ties between the two countries. The fourth summit of this process was held in 2010 in which participants announced backing the Afghan national process of reconciliation and reintegration.
However, in the current summit, President Karzai will raise the issue of insurgent safe havens in Pakistan with President Zardari. He will provide documents regarding the attacker on NDS Chief Asadullah Khalid who came from Pakistan, posing as a Taliban peace negotiator. Probably Pakistani Army and intelligence chiefs would also be present in the summit. President Karzai needs to take tough stand on this and urge Turk leaders to use their influence in the peace process in Afghanistan.
Recently there have been strong signals of Pakistani military establishment’s interest and support in the efforts of talks with Taliban, through release of insurgent leaders after the recent trip of peace envoy Salahuddin Rabbani.
The proof related to attacker on NDS Chief might not have any direct connection to elements in Pakistani military establishment—though President Karzai has mentioned “involvement of bigger hands”—however it has been a known fact that almost the entire leadership of Taliban and other insurgent factions live in Pakistani cities, continuing bloodbath in Afghanistan.
Unless it stops, there will not be any real progress in relations and we cannot hope of long-term stability and security. We hope the summit in Turkey make some real progress in this regard. A hotline has been established to facilitate communications among the leaders of the three countries. Turkey should make this process of the trilateral summit more active in the resolution of conflict in Afghanistan and mutual issues between Islamabad and Kabul. Our issues are rooted far beyond the Taliban safe havens and the insurgency.