Afghan President Hamid Karzai's preconditions for signing strategic partnership agreement (SPA) with Pakistan including cessation of "terror export" echo the Indian precondition that remains a major irritant for Pakistan.
President Karzai, whose government has already signed key agreements, SPAs with India and United States recently, came up with a surprising precondition prior to any agreement with Pakistan in October, 2012 by stating that "Pakistan must (first) stop the export of terrorism, suicide bombers, interference and all the other things which result in killing and disturbing the Afghan people's tranquility and destabilising Afghanistan." Pakistan sharply reacted to the precondition for signing SPA and Foreign Office spokesman stated that Pakistan would like to have a mature and responsible dialogue with Afghanistan and advised President Karzai to avoid diplomacy through media.
The spokesman stated that proposed 'strategic partnership agreement' was suggested by President Karzai during the Trilateral Summit held recently in New York at the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly session. Diplomatic sources said the two neighbouring countries had often entered into blame-game over the issue of cross border incursions and shelling by Pakistani forces' into Afghanistan's Noristan and Kunar provinces for Afghanistan providing safe haven to banned Taliban outfit like Maulvi Fazlullah who fled the country subsequent to the Swat operation.
The two nations should settle the matter through diplomatic channels and the recent visits by Afghan High Peace Council and Afghan Foreign Minister Zulmai Rassoul would be helpful to resolve the matter to a great extent, the Foreign Office maintains. During Afghan Foreign Minister's recent visit, Pakistan handed over SPA draft but the Minister did not give any clear indication that the precondition of cessation of cross border terrorism for signing the said agreement was no longer on the table.
"You cannot sign Strategic Partnership Agreement, (unless) there is full trust and confidence between the two countries. I think, we are reaching that grade now...we are going to look into that and we hope to sign the agreement as soon as possible," Dr Rassoul said when his attention was drawn towards President Karzai's condition during a joint news conference along with his Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar last week.
An Afghan official while talking to Business Recorder , who wished not to be named, said, "We've received and accepted the draft of the strategic partnership agreement however it is premature to say whether President Karzai's conditions are still intact or taken back." He said Foreign Minister Rassoul would discuss the SPA draft with President Karzai and then we will be in a position to comment about the fate of the SPA. "Let's wait and hope for the best," he added.
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