Amidst the fast occurring developments in the context of hammering out a political and diplomatic solution for the Afghan conflict these days, Pakistan and Turkey have emerged as main actors. A regional connectivity seems to be underway with Turkey in the leading role to facilitate a dialogue between the Taliban and the United States and help Pakistan and Afghanistan build a relationship of trust. The United States has perhaps given heed to independent security experts– calls that the Afghan issue be left on the Afghans to resolve it in consultation with the most concerned regional powers with little interference by the foreign forces.

Besides giving a boost to the bilateral cooperation, President Asif Zardari, during his April 11-14 visit to Turkey, had the agenda of discussing Afghan issue with the Turkish leadership. The subsequent trip of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, Army Chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani and ISI [Inter Services Intelligence] Chief Lt. General Ahmed Shuja Pasha to Afghanistan on April 16 suggests that regional powers have been given a role to help bring the ongoing war in Afghanistan to an end in pursuance of the US plan to start withdrawal of its troops from July this year and hand over security of the country to the local forces by 2014.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul and President Zardari pledged to support any initiatives to stabilize the conflict-torn Afghanistan, including efforts for dialogue with the Taliban. ‘2011 is a very critical year for Afghanistan, as the foreign troops will begin to withdraw. We are using all our capabilities to secure Afghanistan unity and integrity’, Gul told reporters at the joint press conference after the two leaders– talks in Ankara.

To a question about Pakistan role in the current peace initiatives for Afghanistan, ‘President Zardari said, ‘Pakistan believes in a peaceful transition and dialogue in Afghanistan. We will be facilitators to any format that leads to peace…Whatever needs to be done, Pakistan will be playing a positive role and hoping to facilitate the transition and dialogue.’

A Pakistani official told a media person during the visit that Pakistan would back a plan to allow the Taliban to open a political office in Turkey to help with talks to end the war in Afghanistan. The proposal to establish the Taliban presence had been first discussed in the trilateral summit between Turkey, Pakistan and Afghanistan in December last in Istanbul. Turkey has already expressed its willingness to this effect if it receives any such request from Afghanistan.

Though a regional move appears to be going on to bring peace to the region by resolving the Afghan conflict yet the lack of trust between Pakistan and Afghanistan persists to be a major hiccup in the process, and it is to be seen if the current diplomatic efforts could prove effective to this respect. Turkey has been playing an active role to bring Pakistan and Afghanistan closer particularly through the trilateral summit forum, but a relevant question arises if it ´ being the only Muslim state in NATO ´ could help repair the strained ties between the US and Pakistani intelligence agencies. The recent exchange of visits of the US and Pakistani military leadership implies that the two countries continue to have suspicions about each other regarding cooperation in the war against terrorism.

During President Zardari visit to Turkey, the bilateral relationship has been attempted to be molded from political and economic to a ‘strategic partnership’ with finalization of several mega projects in the fields of economy and security. Besides resolving to take the volume of the bilateral trade from the existing $1 billion to $2 billion annually by the end of 2012, the two leaders also decided to make the ‘Gul Train’ operational from Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul. The freight train would provide Pakistan a trade route to the European countries with goods taking 11 days to reach the Turkish markets. For Turkey, Pakistan is a big market of 170 million with neighbors like India and China. The two countries have decided to upgrade the already existing railway track for the bilateral trade.

Turkey would establish fives branches of its banks in Pakistan and the two countries have also agreed to arrange for currency swaps to bolster trade and commerce. The presidents of the two countries, which are described as ¿two states and one nation– in their warm brotherly relationship, resolved to continue working hand in had ¿to exploit the vast potential in industrial, energy, communication and infrastructure sectors.–

With the agreements on the above-mentioned major projects, the two countries believe to be entering into a strategic relationship likely to benefit each other for years to come. Implementation of these bilateral accords and a success of the two countries in the ongoing peace initiatives towards Afghanistan would hopefully bring peace and security to the region, having an obvious positive impact on the world peace. A cordial and warm relationship between Pakistan and Turkey may also help reduce the wide gap between the West and the Islamic world.