Washington: At a time when the US is supporting a reconciliation
effort in Afghanistan, Pakistan needs to focus on the Taliban on its
side of the border by both signalling its support to the talks and
squeezing down the militants, the State Department has said.
Spokesperson
Victoria Nuland said the strategy of "fight, talk, build" is aimed at
supporting the Afghans in their offensive in the safe havens on their
side of the border, and it also needs Pakistan "to be vigorous on their
side of the border".
"And we’re prepared to support that," Nuland said in response to a question.
"As
we support an Afghan-led effort to talk, the Pakistanis also have to be
signaling to Taliban who may be reconcilable on their side of the
border that they support talk within the Afghan redlines and that this
is what it’s going to take, everybody pulling together, squeezing
together and encouraging talk together," she said.
Referring to
the Istanbul conference on Afghanistan beginning, Nuland said the focus
is to try to get these countries pulling in the same direction under an
Afghan lead and within the redlines and constraints that the Afghans
have put out, supported by the US.
"If there are fighters --
junior-level, medium-level, senior-level -- willing to come off the
battlefield, they have to make absolutely clear they are breaking their
ties with al-Qaeda, they are prepared to support the constitution of
Afghanistan in all of its elements, including its support for the rights
of women, and they are renouncing violence," she said.
She said the US has been advocating supporting Afghan-led reconciliation within redlines for at least two years.
"I
think the issue here is trying to help the Afghans and the Pakistanis
be on the same page with regard to the parameters of talking at the same
time that we are making sure that, as we talk about talking, that those
who are not willing to reconcile know that the Afghans, with our
support, are going to keep fighting them and that we’re pressing the
Pakistanis to also squeeze them," Nuland said.
"This is an
effort to ensure that Afghanistan and Pakistan are working in harmony;
and they’re communicating well together; and that US support, whether
it’s to Afghanistan or whether it’s to Pakistan, serves that goal of
helping them to work together on both the fight side and the talk side
and, frankly, the build side, which takes you to the new Silk Road
Initiative and our hope that we can move from aid to trade with both
countries and that they can begin to trade more with each other, et
cetera," the spokeswoman said. Online
