US Ambassador to NATO hosts Trilateral Talks

By Nigel Chamberlain, NATO Watch

Reuters reported that US Secretary of State John Kerry hosted talks in Brussels on Wednesday between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Jalil Jilani. Afghan Defence Minister Bismillah Khan Mohammadi and Pakistani Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani were said to be part of the talks.  The aim of the meeting is to calm tensions over border disputes and the stalled peace process before the end of NATO's Afghanistan combat mission.

Kerry told reporters before the ‘Trilateral Dialogue’ at the residence of the US Ambassador to NATO that Afghanistan was in "a critical transformational period" and that "we are very, very hopeful for a productive series of discussions”. The White House has yet to decide how many US troops will remain in Afghanistan after 2014. Much depends on progress in negotiations with President Karzai on a Bilateral Security Agreement to define the future legal status of US Forces and on improving Afghan-Pakistan relations.

Cross border tension between the two countries has been growing with counter accusations about harbouring terrorists and stalled efforts to include the Taliban in peace negotiations. There have been suggestions that an unstable Afghanistan might suit Pakistan’s ambition for the region, at least until foreign combat forces leave at the end of 2014.

A secret NATO report on Islamabad's links to the Afghan Taliban was leaked in February this year. According to the BBC, the report is called State of the Taliban and is based on the interrogation of 27,000 captured Taliban, al-Qaeda and foreign fighters as well as civilians. It claims that Pakistan is aware Taliban leaders take refuge within its borders and that senior Taliban figures such as Nasiruddin Haqqani are housed close to ISI headquarters in Islamabad. The Pakistani security services have denied that they have helped the Taliban and say there is no hidden agenda in Afghanistan.

Admiral Mike Mullen, former Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, has explained Pakistan's closeness to the Afghan Taliban by pointing to infiltration of its army by the religious right. But he also says it is part of a grand strategy to increase leverage in the region via "proxies".

BBC correspondent David Loyn says that “John Kerry may be hosting talks between Afghanistan and Pakistan but there is no sign that either is ready to make concessions”. He adds that:

Pakistan says it is committed to playing a constructive role. It wants Afghanistan to cut its strong alliance with India, and send officers to train in Pakistan. But ahead of the talks, the Afghan presidential spokesman Aimal Faizi rejected these demands. Afghanistan wants Pakistan to use its influence over the Taliban to bring them to the negotiating table, and stop militants crossing the border.

After the three hour meeting, Kerry said: "We had a very extensive and, I think everybody would agree, productive and constructive dialogue ... but we have all agreed that results are what will tell the story, not statements at press conferences” … and … “I think that everybody here agreed today that we will continue a very specific dialogue on both the political track as well as the security track".