Islamabad Trilateral Dialogue: China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Day I - SUNDAY, OCTOBER 19th, 2014
Source : Pakistan China Institute Date : 19th 20th October, 2014 By : PCI
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Organized by the Pakistan-China Institute
in collaboration with
the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung
INAUGURAL SESSION
The event commenced with the address of Chairman of the Pakistan-China Institute (PCI), Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, in which he stressed the importance of this trilateral dialogue and shared the vision behind this initiative of the PCI. He stated that we live in the Asian century, a time when NATO and the West are retreating from the Middle East. The destinies of China, Afghanistan and Pakistan, he said, are interlinked, and policymakers in the three countries should share their economic visions with each other. He stated that a new world is now opening up for the three countries which is full of challenges, but even greater opportunities, and concluded that the leadership of these three neighbours needed to take the initiative to link the region and bring their respective countries closer together to each other.
Mr. Ronny Heine, Director of Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), stated it was an honor and pleasure for KAS to collaborate with PCI for such an important dialogue, thanking Senator Mushahid Hussain for taking the initiative in organizing a dialogue which is of national interest. He stated that the emerging regional scenario in South Asia, with Pakistan and China playing a pivotal role, as well the policies of the new Afghan administration, would chiefly determine how events unfold in Afghanistan in the near future; and that, therefore, the trilateral dialogue was crucial for the three countries to exchange viewpoints, review the current outlook for Afghanistan, and draw up sustainable and practical recommendations that would serve as solutions to core issues. This, he said, would help to enhance friendly collaboration and maintain peace in the region.
The Ambassador of China to Pakistan H.E. Mr. Sun Weidong, in his address to the audience, lauded the trilateral dialogue as an important platform for the three countries to strengthen communication and understanding, stating it would help build regional peace and stability. China, he said, looks forward to a unified and stable Pakistan and is also an active participant in peaceful reconstruction in Afghanistan. He stressed that the three neighbors should strengthen economic, political and social ties. He highlighted security as a key area of cooperation, and stated China would take every step to assist Pakistan with counter-terrorism efforts.
The Ambassador of Afghanistan to Pakistan H.E. Mr. JananMosazai, spoke about the steps that the Afghan government is taking to build confidence amongst its people, highlighting its intention to transform Afghanistan to a country which would serve as a crossroads for trade. The Afghanistan of today is very different from the Afghanistan thirteen years ago, he stated, describing it as a functioning young democracy that had transformed itself from a struggling state to a stable and successful one in the region. The Ambassador stated that China, Afghanistan and Pakistan are actively cooperating at the trilateral and multilateral levels, and confidence-building measures are being implemented through ministerial trilateral dialogues. He concluded that the trilateral dialogue was a unique opportunity for the three countries to build confidence and strengthen cooperation.
Session I: Current Outlook for Afghanistan
The first session of the conference was chaired by Professor Li Xiguang, Director of the Pakistan Study Center at Tsinghua University, Beijing. The first speaker, Dr. FarouqAzam, Chairman of the Movement for Peaceful Transformation of Afghanistan (MPTA), discussed the objectives of the new Afghan government. He shared his view that political changes and ground realities in Afghanistan offered an opportunity to his country and to Pakistan to live in peace and focus their efforts on the economic wellbeing of their people; in this, he emphasized the need for a trust-building process. Speaking on Afghanistan’s internal dynamics, he said a peace mediator was needed to mediate between all warring factions for a comprehensive internal political settlement, taking into confidence the regional powers and the international community. He also stated that the MPTA had a comprehensive plan in this regard that would soon be submitted to the new Afghan president.
The second speaker was eminent scholar and political analyst Dr. HasanAskariRizvi, who discussed the impact of the changing security environment on Pak-Afghan relations. He said that the two countries could not cooperate in an environment where positive and negative signals emanated simultaneously, noting that while peace and stability are desirable, they would not come automatically; that a new strategy needed to be adopted, and the Cold War mentality, where the neighbor is seen as either a friend or a foe, needed to be abandoned. He discussed the need for Pakistan and Afghanistan to work together for the identification of shared goals and expand avenues of cooperation. He highlighted the decline that would be seen in economic assistance to Afghanistan post 2015 as a critical factor in the emerging context. He also emphasized the importance of a regional approach involving China, Afghanistan and Pakistan to resolve various problems and enhance peace and stability in the region.
The third speaker, Dr. Zafar Nawaz Jaspal, Director and Associate Professor of the School of Politics and International Relations at Quaid-e-Azam University, discussed the NATO mission in Afghanistan and its official policies. He stated that NATO was currently undergoing a transformation from a military alliance to a political one. He spoke of NATO’s seeming inability to translate its counterinsurgency strategy into accomplishing its strategic goals, and said NATO members could play an important role in the economy. Dr. Jaspal stated that that political and financial instability had a negative influence on the conditions in Afghanistan, and that without political stability, the present situation would prevail and the declared objectives of NATO will not be fulfilled.
In the question and answer session that followed, a number of areas were touched upon, including confidence building measures for Pak-Afghan cooperation, measures to bring political and economic stability to Pakistan, the need for focusing on soft power as opposed to hard power, and the emphasis on mutual harmonious existence.
Session II: Changing Regional Context
The second session was chaired by Ambassador Khalid Mehmood, chairman of the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI).
Mr. Amir Rana, Director of the Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) and the first speaker, spoke on counterterrorism efforts. He said that the militant movement in Afghanistan had entered a new ideological phase, and its framework needed to be changed internally because of the change in character of the militant groups; he noted that the transformation did not necessarily entail a weakening. He expressed his views stating that the Tehrik-i-Taliban would lose their central position, that Al-Qaeda would hold its position for the short term, and that the IS would gain influence in the region, saying that the nature of violence of any IS-inspired groups would differ from that of the Taliban.
The second speaker, Ms. Li Qingyan, Asst. Research Fellow at the China Institute of International Studies (CIIS) in Beijing, spoke on regional economic connectivity, discussing in detail initiatives such as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and the Silk Road Economic Belt. She emphasized the increasing demand for economic integration between South Asia and Central Asia and discussed the role the CPEC would play in helping to foster economic integration and create greater bilateral trade relations between China and Pakistan. She also identified challenges posed to this cooperation, discussing resistance from extra regional actors, ongoing geopolitical conflicts, and the volatile regional security situation. She stressed that overcoming these obstacles would require greater communication on policies so that they favor integration and cooperation. She advocated increasing road connectivity, facilitating trade and people-to-people and cultural exchanges, as well as enhanced economic and social cooperation and integration to tackle the menace of terrorism.
The third speaker, Dr. Muhammad Khan, Head of the department of International Relations at the National Defence University (NDU) in Islamabad, spoke on the regional role played by Russia, India and the Central Asian countries. In the context of the current security situation in Afghanistan, he stated that the Central and South Asian region found itself in a state of uncertainty, with every country trying to secure its own interests, while Russia continued to exert its political and economic importance in the region, and India vied for regional influence. He spoke on the opportunities available in trade and energy cooperation to Central Asia and the potential obstacles faced in realizing them. He concluded that it was critical for Pakistan to garner the support of major stakeholders such as China, Russia and the USA in order to achieve its goals in the South Asian region, and more broadly in Central Asia.
Some of the key themes touched upon in the discussion that followed, included China’s short term and long term regional objectives, China’s desire for and efforts towards fostering lasting regional peace, and the centrality of a peaceful Afghanistan to regional peace.