Afghan Reconciliation

Raza Naqvi, Urdu VOA News, Washington.
According to a report released by the Pakistan based Jinnah Institute, which surveyed a cross-section of Pakistan's "foreign policy elite," the consensus in that country is that US objectives in Afghanistan are not clear. On the one hand, they argue, the US aims to defeat the Taliban militarily, but on the other hand, it aims to pursue negotiations. Ahmed Majidyar of the American Enterprise Institute say that these apparently divergent policies create confusion, and said that the focus should remain on the military campaign. However, Pakistani experts seek political reconciliation with the Taliban instead of military engagement, according to the report, and indeed President Obama echoed this senitment in a recent speech announcing a draw down of US troops. But Mr. Majidyaar said the Taliban have so far been unwilling to talk. On the other hand, Andrew Wilder of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace says that though it will be difficult, political reconciliation can work.

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• Afghan Reconciliation
• Raza Naqvi
• Ahmed Majidyar