WASHINGTON, DC — Pakistan’s foreign minister wants the world to
engage the Taliban, warning of dangerous consequences if
Afghanistan’s rulers
are again isolated.
اضافة اعلان
In an interview
with AFP on a visit to Washington, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari cautioned against
creating “parallel governance” after the US, distrustful of the Taliban, put
Afghanistan’s frozen assets in a professional fund in Switzerland.
“We’ve learned
from the past that when we wash our hands and turn our backs, we end up
creating unintended consequences and more problems for ourselves,” Bhutto
Zardari said Tuesday.
“I believe that
our concerns of an economic collapse, of an exodus of refugees, of a threat of
new recruits for organizations such as (Daesh)and others, outweigh concerns
that there may be about their financial institutions.”
The Taliban
returned to power last year after the US ended a two-decade war. Relations had
soured with Pakistan, whose powerful military and intelligence apparatus was
accused in Washington of quietly nurturing the Islamist militants despite
providing logistical access to
US forces.
In contrast to
some previous Pakistani officials, the foreign minister — whose mother, former
prime minister Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated in 2007 — offered no warm words
for the Taliban.
But he said the
militants needed “political space” on concerns such as women’s rights, which
have been sharply curtailed.
“Throughout
history, theocratic, autocratic regimes haven’t exactly tended to expand rights
at times of economic strife,” he said.
“In fact, they
tend to hold on to cultural issues and other issues to engage their
population.”
The US came away
unpersuaded from a series of talks with the Taliban and in August said the
militants had violated promises by welcoming Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri,
who was found at a house in Kabul and killed in a US strike.
‘Great power rivalries’
Bhutto Zardari, the Oxford-educated 34-year-old scion of a preeminent
political dynasty, took office five months ago amid political turbulence in
Pakistan after a no-confidence vote in former prime minister Imran Khan.
The strife comes
as Pakistan is ravaged by floods that have submerged one-third of the country,
displacing millions.
At a meeting
Monday, US Secretary of State
Antony Blinken promised long-term support. In a
message less welcome by Pakistan, the top US diplomat also called on Islamabad
to ask China to restructure debt accumulated as Beijing builds billions of
dollars of infrastructure in a quest for Indian Ocean port access.
Asked about
Blinken’s remarks, Bhutto Zardari said he has had “very productive
conversations” with China and said he hoped that assistance after the historic
floods “does not fall prey to great power rivalries and geostrategic issues.”
With Beijing
seen by many Pakistanis as an uncritical ally, successive governments in
Islamabad have rebuffed US calls to weigh in on the mass incarceration of
Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim people, a campaign Washington calls genocide.
“I’m sure that
the US would like for us to comment more on China’s internal affairs,” Bhutto
Zardari said.
“But maybe if we
start by addressing disputes that are recognized by bodies such as the UN as
disputes of an international nature, that would be more productive.”
He was referring
to Kashmir, the Himalayan territory divided between India and Pakistan and the
trigger for two of their three full-fledged wars.
Indian Prime
Minister
Narendra Modi, a Hindu nationalist, in 2019 stripped Muslim-majority
Jammu and Kashmir of its historic autonomy and opened the way for other Indian
citizens to live there.
Bhutto Zardari
recalled that when his Pakistan People’s Party was in power in 2010, it moved
to open trade with India, then led by prime minister Manmohan Singh.
“We were willing
to take the political risk, stick our necks on the line, and touch the third
rail of Pakistani politics — but because we knew that there was a rational,
reasonable player on the other end who would perhaps be willing to
reciprocate,” Bhutto Zardari said.
“Unfortunately,
that space does not exist today. It’s a very different India.”
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