ID :
171587
Tue, 03/29/2011 - 13:25
Auther :

Pak, India should play positive role in Afghanistan

Betwa Sharma
New York (PTI) - Pakistan and India should not
see Afghanistan as a turf to play out regional rivalries,
NATO's envoy to Kabul Mark Sedwill said as he counselled that
the two countries should play a positive role in achieving
stability in the war-torn nation.
"Afghanistan is not the turf where regional rivalries
can be played out," he said, noting that a power imbalance
with India had led to the growth of militancy in Pakistan.
"Pakistan has always seen Afghanistan through the
prism of India... it has always seen its national security
through the prism of India," Sedwill said at the Asia Society
here Monday.
Sedwill outlined the need for political reconciliation
and economic development to secure stability in Afghanistan by
2014, which is when the American troops will leave.
He noted that post-2014 the international community
would have to pay billions of dollars to bolster Afghanistan,
which will remain one of the poorest countries for years.
On Pakistan's role in Afghanistan, Sedwill noted that
President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yusuf Gilani and
Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani were genuinely committed to
stability in Pakistan.
"A stable Afghanistan is in the best interest of
Pakistan," he said. "Not everyone in Pakistan believes that."
Sedwill said he didn't believe that Taliban were keen
on reconciliation but would prefer to return to the barbaric
reign of the 1990s.
"It is clear that their motive is power," he said,
noting that their "ideological and nationalistic" goal was to
create an Islamic emirate in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

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