Abdullah Abdullah, the chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation along with Mohammad UmerDaudzai, President Ghani’s Special Envoy for Pakistan’s capital reached Islamabad on 28 September 2020, a three-day official visit. The delegation met Prime Minister as well as other Pakistani military and non-military officials. The development surfaced as Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan in an op-ed published in the Washington Post said that “Peace is within reach in Afghanistan, and all those who have invested in the Afghan peace process should resist the temptation for setting unrealistic timelines. A hasty international withdrawal from Afghanistan would be unwise. We should also guard against regional spoilers who are not invested in peace and see instability in Afghanistan as advantageous for their own geopolitical ends.”The statement of Prime Minister Imran Khan witnessed some criticism from Afghan elements who were adamant that there should be no further delay in announcement of political solution of Afghanistan.

If we recall, Pakistan being an important stakeholder facilitated Afghan peace process that resulted in the US-Taliban Peace Agreement on 29 February 2020. Statement issued by Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan to the 75th Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on 25 September 2020, reflect apparent shift in Pakistan foreign policy. There is, no doubt, as also identified by Pakistan to UNGA that conflicts are proliferating and intensifying military occupation and illegal annexations are suppressing the rights of human beings to self-determination. Pakistani Prime Minister said, “there is no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan; the only way forward was and is a political settlement which involves the full spectrum of Afghanistan’s political actors”. Pakistan views that through the Intra-Afghan negotiations that commenced on 12 September, stakeholders must work out an inclusive, broad-based and comprehensive political settlement. The process must be Afghan-led and Afghan-owned, and without any interference or outside influence.

Early this month, talks held between Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami and his Indian counterpart, Rajnath Singh, in Tehran on 5 September 2020, on peace process among the Afghan government and the Taliban in Afghanistan.  Both countries also discussed development of the port, which links India as gateway to Central Asia and Afghanistan. India and Iran are of the views that for a strong and prosperous Afghanistan, there should be no role of Taliban. India and Iran are, therefore, deeply concerned about US-Taliban negotiations, fearing the agreement reached on the drawdown of US forces and would leave its Afghan partners to lose prominent place in future Afghanistan.

In the present scenario. certain stakeholders, who pretended to be factions of Afghan Taliban engaged Afghan security forces and carried attacks in every province of Afghanistan. On the day Abdullah Abdullah planned to visit Pakistan mere twenty four hours, 24 provinces of Afghanistan were attacked as per the statement of Afghan Ministry of Defense. Representative of the Defence Ministry added, Nangarhar, Kunar, Laghman, Nuristan, Kapisa, MaidanWardak, Ghazni, Logar, Paktia, Paktika, Khost, Kandahar, Zabul, Herat, Farah, Badghis, Ghor, Faryab, Sar-e-Pul, Balkh, Helmand, Kunduz, Badakhshan and Baghlan are among the provinces which saw security incidents and attacks within 24 hours. The New York Times, published a story, “In Proud Corners of Afghanistan, New Calls for Autonomy”, 28 September 2020, Thomas Gibbons and Fatima Faizi which highlighted Keram, Shamsudin Hamid (57 years of age), a former fighter who fought under Ahmed Shah Massoud of Hizb-e-Wadhatin both the Soviet-Afghan war and the civil war against Taliban says “This peace process is an American project… The Americans want Taliban to come back to the country. But we are going to fight them. We won’t sacrifice the last 19 years of progress - that is nonnegotiable.”

All this being done to impress the United Nations (UN), European Union (UC), NATO and other foreign elements engaged in Afghanistan, to present a gloomy picture of Afghanistan and to pressurize delay in decision of withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan. The dirty politics being played in Afghanistan from the last two decades has cost over 1.6 million death of innocent men, women and children, and many more will always remain unaccounted. Proud Afghans are living in miserable condition all around the world as refugees and illegal immigrants. Our conscience should not allow Afghanistan to bleed further. Taliban or no Taliban, there should be an immediate withdrawal of all foreign forces from Afghanistan, followed by elections in the country on democratic lines. The notorious concept of broad-based government or puppet regimes are against the principles of democracy. It is high time that we all must contribute for peace in Afghanistan.