An editorial “Regional connections” in
the Dawn said that the latest Joint Economic Commission session between
Pakistan and Afghanistan has ended without any breakthrough, and that is
regrettable.
This was the 10th JEC session, and the first one following Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s visit last year.
Kabul voiced disappointment at the pace
of progress in implementing the 48-point agenda agreed upon during
President Ghani’s visit, while Islamabad pointed to thorny “security
issues” as the main sticking point.
The daily said that the “raft of
agreements that now await implementation between the governments of
Afghanistan and Pakistan makes an impressive list now, but the situation
on the ground stubbornly refuses to budge”.
This makes for a sad sight because both
parties involved have much to gain from advancing the mutually agreed
agenda for enhancing connectivity between their countries.
The editorial said: “Kabul has long
demanded access to New Delhi for its trucks, as well as permission to
carry commercial cargoes back. India too has long asked for overland
access to Kabul from the Wagah border.”
“The matter remains stuck due to
Pakistani fears that such connectivity could be the means of expanding
the Indian presence in Afghanistan, with security implications for
Pakistan,” it added.
The editorial noted that the deep irony
is that “greater regional connectivity is the best guarantor of regional
security, while at the same time it is perceived as a potentially
destabilising element”.
“Given the extreme reluctance of the
government in India to engage with Pakistan at the moment, it appears
that hopes for a breakthrough in the near future in the matter of
overland transit trade between Afghanistan and India are dim,” it
observed.
The daily went on to say that the relationship between Afghanistan and Pakistan “goes beyond India”.
It went on to say that talks to advance
the import of electricity and natural gas from Central Asia to Pakistan
appear to have made much more progress than the question of transit
trade, but thus far the projects in question – Casa 1000 and TAPI – also
have large security-related question marks hanging over them.
“The success of these projects is
closely linked to that of the reconciliation process in Afghanistan. And
once again, the stakes that are being held hostage by security
considerations are far too large to ignore since the energy surpluses of
Central Asia are a natural solution to the energy deficits of South
Asia.
“Crucial to the logjam is the fact that
both India and Pakistan feel they can get what they want without
engaging the other, a perception that has the potential to freeze the
status quo indefinitely into the future.”
Source : IndianMediaBook - Bussiness
