Although in his comments during a recent cabinet meeting, President Donald J Trump repeated some of his previous allegations against this country, of taking money from the US for nothing - promptly and effectively rebutted by Prime Minister Imran Khan - and giving safe haven to the "enemy", the good news is that he now wants to have a "great relationship with Pakistan". Said he, "I look forward to meeting with folks from, and the new leadership in Pakistan, we'll be doing that in the not-too-distant future." The Foreign Office in Islamabad, of course, has readily welcomed the US president's remarks, saying the government is keenly waiting for the engagement at the highest level, though not without noting that "President Trump's remarks are indeed a departure from his tweet of January 1, 2018". The change in the president's tone and tenor is not surprising given his stated resolve, despite resistance from senior aides and criticism from his own party's lawmakers, to withdraw from America's "endless wars". There obviously is a realisation that he needs Pakistan to end US' longest war.
Last month, in a letter to Imran Khan, Trump had sought help in resolving the Afghan conflict. Pakistan has already facilitated one round of peace talks in the UAE between the US and the Taliban, attended also by its own people and others from the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Interestingly, the Taliban delegation included three representatives of the Haqqani network, "the enemy" Trump still alleges Pakistan houses and takes care of. The US Special Envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, who led his side in the two-day meetings, has described them as productive. Soon afterwards, Foreign Minster Shah Mehmood Qureshi visited Kabul and onwards on a whirlwind tour of Iran, China and Russia - the three other countries with stakes in the peace process - to brief them on the event. The next round is planned to be held in Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, Khalilzad has talked of reaching a "roadmap agreement" before the Afghan presidential election scheduled for December this year, which inspires optimism about a positive outcome at some point in the next several months. So far, the Taliban have refused to engage with the Kabul government. Ultimately, however, the two sides will have to arrive at some sort of a reconciliation accord.
No other country has as big a stake in Afghan peace as has Pakistan. For decades, it has hosted around three million Afghan refugees. And the blowback from the war across the border has caused the loss of 75,000 lives and cost over $123 billion to the economy. Be that as it may, Pakistan needs to continue to do all it can to promote an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process. All others concerned must also ensure regional rivalries do not influence the future scheme of things. Understandably, Pakistan would want to see a "friendly" government in Kabul but, hopefully, it has shaken off its previous hang-ups about that country. Needless to say, a peaceful and stable Afghanistan is in Pakistan's own interest.