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KABUL: The erstwhile National Security Advisor Haneef Atmar has said that the Afghan war is not an internally-induced one, and thus there should be no local solution sought for.
Atmar, who is also a presidential candidate in the September elections, at the ‘Afghan Peace Conference’ organized in Lahore of Pakistan, said that for resolving the Afghan peace issue, there was a need for regional and international consensus.
“We expect Pakistan to help Afghanistan’s peace and speed up the process. The intra-Afghan peace dialogue is not accessible and realizable without cooperation of regional countries, including Pakistan,” the presidential contender, leading the Peace and Moderation Team added.
He called upon the parties involved in war and peace not to sacrifice the rights of the Afghan people over peace deals.
“We want peace with the Taliban and not with the international terrorism. We desire for a peace where human rights and our people’s rights are ensured. There is no point in peace without women’s, human, and Afghan rights.”
This comes as Pakistan has been consistently accused by Afghan politicians of not delivering on its promises. Pakistan is host to an Afghan Peace Conference titled ‘Lahore Process’ bringing together more than 50 Afghan leaders, including politicians and tribal elders, but there were no representatives of the Taliban group, despite the fact that Islamabad enjoys very close relations with the group.
However, the Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Saturday called for trust to be rebuilt between Kabul and Islamabad as the country has begun a new initiative to supposedly encourage the Afghan Peace Process and bring an end to the bloodshed in Afghanistan.
However, a number of political pundits have seen this as a political maneuver played by Pakistani authorities to get advantage from a prospective Afghan peace agreement with the Taliban.
