US withdrawal in 2014: Pakistan needs to review foreign policy to avoid Afghan influx: Sherry

Pakistan should revise its foreign policy to avoid Afghans' influx after withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan in 2014, said Sherry Rehman, former Ambassador of Pakistan to United States. In her keynote address at Pakistan Institute of International Affairs (PIIA), she said that 30-year-old calculus should be articulated; publicly as reconciliation with Taliban was not Pakistan's ball of change.
She called for involving Islamabad, Kabul and Washington in reconciliation process with Taliban. She said that Pakistan should make it clear to Kabul that the country had its own security issues and were clearly distinct from Afghanistan. "Pakistan is in favour of stabilised Afghanistan but it won't be at a cost of Afghans influx in Pakistan after withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan in 2014," she opined.
Sherry said Pakistan should only provide tactical assistance to Afghanistan to protect its own borders and Islamabad must not signal preference to particular group in Afghanistan; talks with northern alliance, Taliban and other actors must be held to assist Afghanistan for strategic planning. She said that peace had been hijacked and Pakistan had become a 'Principal Prison of Terrorism'. Therefore, the incumbent government has to decommission protocols and commence political and constitutional reforms in Balochistan, FATA and other no-man's land to restore its writ.
"Pakistan needs comprehensive counter terrorism policy, which should be executed by local police not by military as it causes rising insecurity in tribal areas," she underlined. "This is the high time not only to empower local police to deal with in-house terrorism but also checking foreign funding to the terrorist groups."
Former Ambassador to US said, "'Drone strikes' are certainly violate country's sovereignty" and added that both countries - Pakistan and United States, have to review its mutual roles in Afghanistan to re-examine their roller-coaster relationships, which need to be re-built for broader way on long term basis. Talking about Indo-Pak relations, she said that Pakistan had reinitiated dialogue with India and now the ball was in India's court. She also urged the government to move forward for productive talks with India for sustainable economic growth.