Afghan war: Government urged to take up issue of toxic environmental impact with US

A Senate panel on Monday asked the government to take up the toxic environmental and human impacts of the decades' long US war in Afghanistan, over the bordering areas of Pakistan and their people, at the highest level with the US, besides urging the Taliban to include the matter in its agenda of talks with the US authorities.

The Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs chaired by Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed was given an insightful presentation on "Pakistan-US relations, President Donald Trmup's visit to India and US views about China, Iran and Afghanistan" by noted US scholar Vali Nasr who is currently serving as Dean of the SAIS, Johns Hopkins University, Washington DC.

On the toxic environmental impacts of the US war in Afghanistan on Pakistan's bordering areas and their people, Nasr pointed that it was high time that the Taliban, who were currently negotiating a peace deal with the US, should include it in their agenda of the ongoing talks.

At this, the committee requested Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Senator Sirajul Haq, who was the first to raise the issue, to write to the Taliban's negotiation team to make this matter as agenda item of their talks with the US.

The panel also instructed the Foreign Office to raise the matter at the highest level with the US authorities.

In his presentation, Vali Nasr said that Pakistan needed to capitalize on its greater role in the Afghan peace process to improve its bilateral relations with the US, adding that Islamabad was much closer to Washington on Afghan issue than New Delhi, and peace in Afghanistan "opens the door for Pakistan for a new relationship with the US beyond security ties."

At present, he pointed out that India had eight centers - the US think-tanks - in Washington, which are not only promoting India's interests, but also working on the anti-Pakistan narrative.

On the other hand, Nasr stated that Pakistan had no such center for the purpose of promoting its interests in the US, despite the fact that Pakistan has a strong, influential and wealthy diaspora in the US.

Not China or Turkey, but only the US can resolve the problems in the region, he opined.

However, Nasr maintained that resolving conflict between Pakistan and India was not among the top priorities of President Trump.

In the overall policy making, he said that there was a big gap what Trump thinks and what the Pentagon wants.

"I don't think, Trump really likes Modi...it's more about [Modi's] personality," Nasr said, adding, Trump is not ideological but is transactional and he is culturally more compatible with Prime Minister Imran Khan than he is with Prime Minister Modi.

He pointed out that Modi's agenda was 'to change' India.

"His plan is to erase [Jawaharlal] Nehru's legacy - the secular face of India," Nasr said, while referring to the controversial steps taken by his BJP government such as the citizens act and the annexation of Kashmir.

About the Afghan peace process, he asserted that peace in Afghanistan was not possible without involving Iran, which was a key player.

Nasr insisted that Pakistan should open its own independent channel with Iran to involve it on Afghanistan and also to make sure that Washington was talking with Tehran.

He also mentioned another plus point for Pakistan that the image of Pakistan was changing.

Nasr urged Pakistani policy makers to have close coordination with Iran on Afghanistan as no political solution was possible without Iran.

On the Middle East situation, he said Saudi Arabia and other Gulf States did not want normalization of ties with Iran and instead, they wanted Trump to continue with measures to contain Iran.

Prof Nasr said that Pakistan could play a vital role in opening channels with Iran and Saudi Arabia, which would also be helpful for the post-US withdrawal from Afghanistan. "As I can [see] the chances of failure of the Afghan peace process are very high," he said, adding that in case of chaos in Afghanistan it would be Pakistan, Iran and Russia who would face the consequences.

Nasr said that the Afghan peace process had two dimensions, adding that the first part was the military- ending the military campaign - for which dialogue was ongoing, and the second part was political- installment of a political set up after the US withdrawal.