No one had expected that peace doves will start fluttering over the Taliban-infested Pak-Afghan border as soon tribal leaders from Pakistan and Afghanistan would meet in Kabul in pursuance of Bush-Musharraf-Karzai agreement clinched at the White House last year, or, that the Taliban would beat their swords into ploughshares.
But it was also beyond reasonable expectation that the so laboriously prepared grand Jirga would lose its momentum just before meeting. Two things happened in the week preceding the opening of the grand Jirga: President Pervez Musharraf cancelled his visit, as he was held back by some "pressing engagements" at home. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz was the inevitable replacement, though going by his speech at the inaugural session one must say it was alright for the National Assembly of Pakistan, but was out of season for a peace Jirga.
The other thing that foreshadowed the success of the Jirga was the refusal of almost all delegates from both North Waziristan and South Waziristan to go to Afghanistan "to talk about peace when our own house is on fire". The Karzai government's approach too was unrealistic: it kept the Taliban out of the Jirga, contravening the very idea of the exercise where the complainant and the accused appear together before the judge in the presence of the elders of the tribe.
The opening was marked by accusations and counter-accusations. Shaukat Aziz was unforgiving: "Afghanistan is not yet at peace with itself. The objective of national reconciliation remains elusive". He wanted his audience not to forget that "first and foremost the Taliban are Afghans...And, the Afghans cannot blame others for lack of reconciliation among themselves". The riposte from Karzai was angry accusations.
He said he had often asked Pakistan: "Why from your soil and administration is this evil coming to us. Why is it bothering us? Who are they who bother Pakistan and Afghanistan...Who is training them? By whose money are they being trained?" Over the years both sides have done a lot of straight talking, and it did not help. The grand Jirga was expected to turn out to be a watershed, giving a new direction to the Pak-Afghan relationship.
The charge often articulated by Pakistani leaders that President Karzai is under the thumb of non-Pushtoon warlords, who, in turn, are anti-Pakistan, should not have affected the level of representation at the grand Jirga. Media reports from Kabul say that the residents of Kabul who had worked hard to arrange the Jirga function in a big way were greatly disappointed when President Musharraf did not turn up there. But from purely Pushtoon point of view the grand Jirga was a big success.
The presence of Pakistani Pushtoon stalwarts like Asfandyar Wali and Mehmud Khan Achakzai conveyed an unmistakable message of oneness of Pushtoon nation. In that is hidden the anti-thesis of Taliban power. Let this grand Jirga be the first, to be followed up with more such assemblies with wider representation.
Participation of Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the chief of JUI which has a large following in the tribal areas of Pakistan, would have positively impacted the mission of the grand Jirga. Of course, shepherded by the US government, this Jirga was Taliban-centered, which deprived it of its potential. It is beyond one's comprehension how the Taliban can be held accountable by a Jirga where they are not present.