Uncertainty over Washington's long-term plans in Afghanistan is undermining prospects of reconciliation with the Taliban, according to an influential foreign policy think tank. The independent Jinnah Institute said in a report released Thursday that the perception that the United States might want to retain some security presence in Afghanistan beyond 2014 was creating unease in the region.
And while Washington has said it intends to end combat missions in Afghanistan by the end of 2014 and transfer all responsibility for security over to Afghan forces, many Pakistani experts were sceptical, the report said. Perceived ambiguity over US plans would "likely create unease among the Afghan Taliban and the countries in the region including Pakistan", it said.
"The foreign policy elite see the prospects of a successful endgame in Afghanistan as bleak because of the belief that the United States would want to retain some long-term security in Afghanistan," it added. The think tank said the report reflected the views of Pakistan's foreign policy elite, including retired civil and military officials, analysts, journalists and the members of civil society.
"We need to discuss what the US presence after 2014 means," said Moeed Yusuf, South Asia advisor of the Washington-based United States Institute of Peace, which collaborated on the report. The president of the Jinnah Institute, former information minister Sherry Rehman, said Pakistan was essential for the United States to achieve its aims in Afghanistan, 10 years after the beginning of the war.
"Even American objectives (in Afghanistan) cannot come to fruition if Pakistan is ignored," she said. The report added that although the May 2 killing of al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in a raid by US troops had strained ties, it had "no bearing" on Pakistan's strategy in Afghanistan.