Current Projects
Taliban and Afghanistan Restart Secret Talks In Qatar
The Taliban and representatives of the Afghan government have restarted secret talks in the Gulf state of Qatar, senior sources within the insurgency and the Kabul government have told the Guardian. Among those present at the meetings held in September and October was Mullah Abdul Manan Akhund, brother of Mullah Omar, the former Taliban chief who led the movement from its earliest days until his death in 2013. The two rounds of talks are the first known negotiations to have taken place since a Pakistan-brokered process entirely broke down following the death in a US drone strike of Omar’s successor, Mullah Akhtar Mansoor. Doha has been a centre for Taliban diplomacy since the movement was granted permission to set up an office in the Qatari capital in 2013, although that initiative became one of the many attempts to start a peace process that ultimately came to nothing following complaints from the Afghan government. Mullah Omar’s son, Mohammad Yaqoob, is expected to soon join the Doha group, a Taliban source said, in a move that would further bolster the authority of the office. No Pakistani official took part in either the October or September meetings, according to a member of the Taliban’s leadership council, the Quetta Shura. He said Islamabad has lost much of its traditional influence over a movement it has been associated with since it rose to power in Afghanistan in the mid-1990s. But according to the Taliban official, a senior US diplomat was present in the Qatar meetings. The US embassy in Afghanistan declined to comment on the claim. The Taliban official said the first meeting in early September “went positively and was held in a trouble-free atmosphere” in which Akhund sat face to face with Mohammed Masoom Stanekzai, Afghanistan’s intelligence chief. A second meeting took place in early October, despite continued fighting between government and insurgent forces. Recent weeks have seen the Taliban overrun Kunduz, a provincial capital, for the...
Govt Signals Willingness For Talks With Militant Outfits
With the war escalating in different parts of the country, the Ashraf Ghani administration on Wednesday signaled its willingness to consider different options on peace negotiations with militants. Presidential spokesman Haroon Chakhansuri indicated the government’s readiness for reconciliation talks, when approached for comments on a British newspaper regarding recent meetings between government and Taliban representatives. In response to an emailed query from Pajhwok Afghan News, Chakhansuri said: “Recently, we saw a notable number of Taliban’s Quetta Shura members showing willingness to engage in peace talks and that they understand it's important for them to establish contacts for political process directly with the government.” A day earlier, a British newspaper reported Mullah Abdul Manan Akhund, brother of Mullah Omar, was among participants of secret the meetings held in September and October.The two rounds of talks are the first known negotiations to have taken place since a Pakistan-brokered process broke down following the death in a US drone strike of Mullah Akhtar Mansoor. Chakhansuri believed the peace deal with the Hezb-i-Islami Afghanistan, led by Gulbadin Hekmatyar, had probably made an impact on other rebel outfits. There was more confidence among different groups in the government’s willingness to engaging in direct talks. Also on Wednesday, the Taliban denied resuming clandestine peace negotiations with Afghan government representatives in Qatar. “We reject the Guardian report regarding the resumption of talks between the Islamic Emirate and the Afghan government,” Zabihullah Mujahid said. This article originally appeared on www.pajhwok.com, October 19, 2016. Original link. Disclaimer: Views expressed in the article are not necessarily supported by CRSS.
Taliban-Kabul Talks Begin
On the 15th anniversary of the US invasion of Afghanistan, talks between representatives of Taliban and the Afghan Government have taken place in Doha, Qatar. Several rounds of talks had been held in late September and early October. The Afghan side was led by Mr Stanikzai, Afghan chief of Intelligence, while the Taliban team also included brother of the late Mullah Omar. A US representative also participated in the negotiations. Taliban agreeing to meet with Kabul government’s and US officials is a slight modification of their stance on the issue of parleys with the Afghan Government. After the death of Mullah Mansoor, the movement had resolved not to sit for talks with government representatives or with the Americans. It appears that those in favour of entering into negotiations have prevailed. An important dimension of the interaction is the near-absence of Pakistani mediators. The Doha round of talks has been preceded by arrests, in Pakistan,of a number of top ranking leaders of the Taliban movement mainly in Balochistan’s Pakhtun areas. The direct contacts between Taliban and the Kabul regime also show that communication channels have been established between the two entities—bypassing Islamabad. This is seen as a major victory for Kabul in its endeavours to seek direct access to the Taliban leadership without soliciting help from Islamabad. The Doha talks also show the deepening distrust between the Taliban and Pakistani officials. A breakdown of Islamabad-Kabul contacts is another factor that forced Ashraf Ghani’s government to intensify efforts to engage the Taliban in negotiations. Perhaps the most important cause of the Kabul government’s keenness to open talks with the Taliban is the relentless offensive launched by the latter in recent weeks and the impending fears of the fall of many towns both in North Afghanistan as well as the Taliban’s strongholds of Helmand, Kabul is also genuinely worried about any escalation in the number of defections...
Afghan Delegation Arrives for Track 1.5/2 Dialogue
A ten-member Afghan delegation comprising members of civil society and parliament arrived in Islamabad on Tuesday, October 18, 2016 for the first meeting in the land-mark series of Track 1.5/2 meetings/ dialogues. This initiative titled “Beyond Boundaries|Phase II” has been undertaken by the Islamabad based Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) – as part of its efforts to improve bilateral relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The project is being implemented in strategic partnership with Centers’ Afghan Counterpart organization Women & Peace Studies Organization (WPSO) and funded by the British High Commission in Islamabad. The Phase I of the project - which ran through November 2015 to March 2016 - brought together Afghan and Pakistani security and civil society experts for an unprecedented series of six meetings to: discuss bilateral acrimony, help deescalate the heightened tensions, soothe the bitter context and explore ways of improved cooperation between the two neighbours. The ongoing Phase II aims to convene six more meetings; formulating Pakistan Afghanistan Joint Committee (PAJC) with members from both the countries and address the same goals in a more focused manner. The Phase II of the project builds on the successful outcome of its prequel “Beyond Boundaries” which did a good job of initial ice-breaking, scene setting and laid foundation for more result-oriented conversations and structured dialogue to generate more actionable policy recommendations around the identified issues of border management, security, easement of formal trade, refugees, media-intellectual exchanges. The spectrum of potential discussion grounds has been further enhanced by the addition of issues like health, education and importance of dialogue for peace process after orientation meetings of the project. The idea of Pak- Afghan Joint Committee (PAJC) was to develop a bilateral Track II mechanism to try and help overcome the deeply-rooted...
Gwadar, CPEC and Questions
The extremely cautious and calculated Chinese approach -meticulous planning and patient/quiet execution represents a sharp contrast to the way Pakistani politics and bureaucracy works. Chinese officials and friends privately often complain of the propensity among Pakistanis of unnecessary bluster, emotional sloganeering and little pro-active approaches. For the Chinese dream of One Belt One Road and its offspring China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Gwadar holds the key. And that is why Chinese strategists and planners chose it for realising the first of the three corridors President Xi Jinping proposed. That is why the Chinese have snubbed the Indian premier Modi over re for instance, childishly/stupidly tried to drag President Xi Jinping and Putin into condemning Pakistan, without realising that Chinese policies and actions stem from deep thinking and meticulous planning. But Pakistanis must now adapt themselves to the Chinese expectations of hard work, detailed planning and self-less execution. The entire endeavour holds great promise for both China and Pakistan, and Balochistan in particular. And Gwadar is strategically central to this dream of development. What are the Pakistani leaders doing for the extremely under-developed and embattled Balochistan and KP? Their talk on CPEC and Gwadar as its lynchpin in fact begs numerous questions; where does the common man from Gwadar fit into these grand plans? Are the provincial and the governments at all cognisant of the skilled human resource that is required to service the shipping and industrial units envisioned for the free trading zone being set up. The focus on the impact of and the relevance of the socio-economic and environmental issues for the common man usually gets lost in the lofty strategic and economic discourse. As of now, this becomes obvious when moving through the dusty, dirty and mostly decrepit Gwadar old town. It offers a contrast to the grandiose official talk surrounding CPEC. The...
How the BRICS Can Help End War in Syria and Establish a New, Just World Order
The eighth BRICS Summit in Goa, India is winding down. On the eve of the summit, President Putin gave an interview to Sputnik and India's IANS news agency, outlining the BRICS' role in resolving the Syrian crisis. Experts say the Russian leader will do everything he can to use the organization to accelerate the creation of a multipolar world order. utin arrived in Goa on Saturday, starting his program of meetings with the leaders of India, China, Brazil and South Africa off with talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On Sunday, BRICS leaders officially adopted the Goa Declaration. Crucially, this included a provision on the need to fully implement UN Security Council resolutions calling for peace in Syria and the continuation of the fight against terrorism, including against Daesh and Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (aka Nusra Front). Commenting on the significance of the summit, Svobodnaya Pressa columnist Sergei Aksenov noted that Moscow has invested a great deal of political capital in the event. "In the context of global tensions, the decisions taken by the BRICS countries may seriously affect the international situation," the journalist wrote. President Putin confirmed as much in an interview for Sputnik and India's IANS news agency on the eve of the summit. Emphasizing that the BRICS group of countries "is one of the key elements of the emerging multipolar world," Putin pointed out that "our countries reject the policy of coercive pressure and infringement upon the sovereignty of other states." We take similar stances on urgent international issues, including the Syrian crisis and the Middle East settlement," Putin added. Noting that the BRICS powers have a "shared commitment" to observing fundamental principles of international law, including the central role of the United Nations, the president stressed that "with some Western countries attempting to promote their unilateral approaches, this position becomes even more relevant." In the past,...
The holy cows of Uttar Pradesh
This report exposes the undercurrents of the so-called pluralistic norms of the Indian political landscape and how the majority rule misuses its majority to mistreat minority populations. - Editorial Team, CRSS. On August 3, 2016, policemen of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) stationed at Meerut in western Uttar Pradesh had a strange task at hand: to dig 27 ditches. The carcasses of cows had surfaced in Muzaffarnagar, a neighbouring district. This was a concern on any day in communally sensitive UP, where more than three-fourths of the people are Hindus who believe cows to be sacred. But on this particular day, thousands of Kanwarias — Hindu devotees who carry home water from the river Ganga — would walk past the carcasses on the way to their villages. District officials were alarmed enough that they rushed the 24 members of the PAC, a special force usually reserved for major disturbances, to bury 27 dead cows. Dead cows, as a senior police official told HT, were a “sure-shot recipe” for a communal riot. “Had any Kanwaria seen that sight, we would have ended up digging many more ditches to bury humans,” he added. The cow has become a unique flashpoint in UP, accounting for nearly a fifth of all communal incidents between January 2010 and April 2016, according to HT’s investigation of police complaints from the state’s 75 districts. Cow-related incidents have steadily increased since 2012, especially in western UP, part of a pattern of rising communalism across the state. Desecration, from vandalism to cow slaughter, has proved to be an easy ruse for triggering communal incidents that drive a deeper wedge between Hindus and Muslims in the state. Sometimes an allegation is all it takes: A Muslim man’s lynching in UP last year on suspicion of possessing beef is a gruesome case in point. Yet, many feel justified in fighting over cows. “Cow is sacred like mother in my religion, an attack on my mother is an attack on me,” said Kamal Dutt Sharma, BJP leader in...
Are Afghanistan And Bangladesh Emerging As Key Allies To India And Isolating Pakistan?
Nobel Literature Prize winner Bob Dylan famously sang The Times They Are A-changin. Now, not only does it apply to a singer-songwriter winning a Nobel prize in literature, it also, quite oddly, applies to foreign policy. Quite specifically to Pakistan's neighbours who are increasingly moving away from the country that cannot get its act right. In an exclusive interview to The Hindu's Suhasini Haider, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina spoke in detail about the impending pressure on her to snap ties with Islamabad and how her country "feels frustrated" with Pakistan due to its export of terror. Bangladesh has certain sensitivities over the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT of Bangladesh), where Pakistan showed its dissatisfaction with our processes and even raised the issue in their parliament. They started interfering in our internal affairs by making unacceptable remarks. We felt hurt by this, as this is an internal matter for us, we are trying war criminals in our country, and it isn't their concern. There is a lot of pressure on me to cut off all diplomatic ties with Pakistan for their behaviour. But, I have said the relations will remain, and we will have to resolve our problems. The fact is, we won our liberation war from Pakistan, and they were a defeated force. We won the war and freed the country from them, and it is expected that they won't take it so well. Bangladesh and Pakistan have a bloody history - the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War saw the Pakistani army ruthlessly and systematically rape lakhs of women and girls and kill the men and boys. Bangladesh executed Islamist leaders (Jamaat-e-Islami's Mir Quasem Ali) on the charges of war crimes. Since then, the two countries have been simmering in mutual anger. The execution, Hasina says, has brought a sense of closure - "it was a national demand... that these people must be tried". Undoubtedly, India has been a keen player in the relations between the two countries: In a way, it was the...
Talk On Terror, Trade, Bimstec: Five Takeaways From The 8th BRICS Summit
New Delhi received qualified support from the BRICS grouping for its efforts to counter terrorism but there was no consensus on India’s drive to nail Pakistan and its use of terror as an instrument of state policy. Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Pakistan the “mother ship of terrorism”, other members of BRICS – including Pakistan’s “iron brother” China – were not willing to sign on the dotted line. China remained the key factor in other issues too, such as India’s efforts to get backing from BRICS for its bid to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group. One positive was the fresh beginning with the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (Bimstec). Here are five takeaways from the BRICS and Bimstec meets: Unanimity in fighting terror but not on naming and shaming Pakistan-based jihadi groups:The summit took place weeks after a terror attack on an army camp in Uri killed 19 Indian soldiers. India blamed Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed for the strike and launched a campaign to diplomatically isolate Islamabad. The BRICS Summit declaration used strong language on terror and said states had the responsibility to prevent terror activities from their soil, but it fell short on mentioning any Pakistan-based terror groups. The BRICS communiqué consistently mentions UN-proscribed organisations such as the Islamic State. India needs to work more on the grouping, especially China, to get it to agree to mention Pakistan-based groups such as the JEM, which too has been sanctioned by the UN. India’s NSG bid gets acknowledged but bilateral task with China remains:The BRICS Summit communiqué acknowledged that nuclear energy forms an important part of India’s efforts to fight climate change, and that New Delhi will be better off with a stable regime that guides nuclear trade. These two arguments were touted by India to back up its efforts to get entry into the NSG, an elite club of countries that controls trade in nuclear technology...
CHINA WATCH (October 10-17) THE SINO-PAK-INDIA TRIANGLE IS BACK:
This week was dominated by two kinds of major developments. First was China’s response to the issues of India’s inclusion in NSG, ban on Masud Azhar and lately, India’s labeling of Pakistan as ‘mothership of terrorism.’ Second was IMF’s repeated suggestions to Pakistan to handle CPEC rather shrewdly. Some of China’s top analysts criticized India’s closure of border with Pakistan. Also China’s envoy made clear that Western Route is part of CPEC. Afghanistan showed its desire to be part of CPEC. NSG and Azhar: China has told India about its readiness to continue dialogue with New Delhi to “build consensus” on the issue of latter’s membership at NSG (Nuclear Supplier Group). The statement showed a sort of fluctuation in Beijing’s previous stance when it linked India’s membership of NSG to NPT (Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty).[i] These views were expressed by Chinese Vice Foreign Minister, Li Baodong, ahead of President Xi Jinping’s visit to India for attending BRICS summit. However, he added that “things need to be in keeping up with procedures, norms and regulations of the NSG.”[ii] Another notable streak of China’s policy came to the fore when Vice Foreign Minister defended Beijing’s decision to thwart India’s efforts at UN to impose ban on Masood Azhar, head of Jaish-e-Muhammad as a “technical hold.” He said that “[T]here should be no double standards on terrorism nor should one pursue its own political gains in the name of counter-terrorism.”[iii] Border Closure: Chinese analysts have termed India’s decision of closing border with Pakistan as “irrational”. Hu Zhiyong, a research fellow from Institute of International Relations of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences told Global Times that “India is making a very irrational decision, since no exhaustive investigation has been conducted after the Uri incident, and no evidence proves Pakistan is behind the attack.”[iv] Hu said that “[S]ince Pakistan is China’s all-weather strategic partner, India’s...
TOP STORIES
TESTIMONIALS
“
I am also a member of National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting. Recently, we held a meeting with the Director General of Radio Pakistan and we told them to initiate such local programs (like Constituency Hour) in regional languages to educate and inform people. Even Indian Radio can be heard in FATA which is being used for propaganda purposes and must be closed. Therefore, we should launch some standard and quality programs like CRSS that will change the taste of the listeners.