Pushing ahead the thaw that arrived at Doha, Pakistan called on the world community to ‘meaningfully engage’ with the Taliban leadership for addressing the panacea of terrorism. Addressing the SCO summit in Astana, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif flagged terrorism as a detriment that is out to derail geo-economics of the region, and described lasting peace in Afghanistan as a lynchpin to achieve economic development. With leadership from China, India, Turkiye, Iran, Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan to discuss economic and security cooperation, Pakistan set the ball rolling by urging a mechanism of multilateralism and one that corresponds to the vision of SCO and CPEC.
Pakistan rightly underscored the need for non-partisan geopolitics, especially at a time when the heart of Europe is under the fissures of Russo-Ukrainian conflict. This is where emerging multilateral dynamics can play a role by putting aside bilateral constraints and fomenting a bloc for progression on tricky issues of peace and security. The initiative to deal with local currencies, and buoy transnational trade and travel is the way to go, and the Astana summit took a cognisance of it in a relevant manner. Climate change, disaster management, supply chain and prompt connectivity channels are some of the factors that cannot be ignored, if simmering unrest and economic regression has to be addressed. Islamabad’s proposal to establish tripartite institutional mechanisms involving Pakistan, Turkiye and Azerbaijan is an extension of that thought.
Pakistan also took a leap ahead in reaching out to Russia by making use of the forum, and the deliberations with President Vladimir Putin are a case in point. Taking a leaf out of yester-decades barter trade accords, Islamabad called for restoring it on the same pattern to synergise untapped economic potential. Astana moot should take Pakistan’s advice for engaging with Taliban in Kabul from a new prism, and shift it to de jure from de facto. That is how the reclusive regime can be made part and parcel of international dispensation to win over perpetual peace in the region and beyond.
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