The recent meeting of Afghan and Pakistani leaders with Secretary of State John Kerry in Brussels marked a renewed effort by the Obama administration to get these two South Asian nations to resolve hostilities that have fueled the war in Afghanistan.
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"It's fair to say that there's good feeling among all of us that we made progress," Kerry said after meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, Pakistan's top military officer. "We will continue a very specific dialogue on both the political track as well as the security track.... [A]ll of us agreed we are committed to try to find stability and peace within both countries and the region itself."
The meeting came at a time when American officials believe that after years of supporting militants who were trying to undermine the Afghan government -- and as U.S. forces prepare to leave the region -- Pakistan has changed its approach to Kabul and has become more cooperative in seeking a political solution to the conflict raging next door, American officials say. However, even as they insist there is a new approach, those same officials acknowledge there has been no "measurable change" in support for the combatant groups U.S. and allied troops confront in Afghanistan.
Such a shift, if actually executed, would be significant. Pakistan's support for the Haqqani network, the Quetta Shura, and other Afghan Taliban militants -- whom it has sheltered, trained, and armed -- has perpetuated the insurgency in Afghanistan and angered the United States, which has spent billions of dollars and lost thousands of troops trying to stabilize the country since ousting the Taliban from power in 2001. Pakistan's support for these groups has been motivated by its fear that Afghanistan could become an ally of longtime enemy India and nurture separatist movements in the western part of its territory. Supporting the Taliban was seen as a means of keeping Indian influence in Afghanistan to a minimum.
"The growing regional pivot in Pakistan's foreign policy is a reflection of our democratic policymaking," Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said last September at the United Nations General Assembly. "A brighter Afghan future will only be possible when the search for peace is Afghan-owned, Afghan-driven, and Afghan-led." Zardari -- who has led the Pakistan People's Party since his wife, Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated in 2007 -- said his nation would support Afghan efforts toward "reconciliation and peace."
Pakistan's government was dissolved in March ahead of national elections this month, but support for the regional shift is shared across the nation's major political parties. Among those embracing this view is the odds-on favorite to become the nation's next leader, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, and his wing of the Pakistan Muslim League.
One U.S. official who deals with Pakistan notes that Hina Rabbani Khar -- until recently, the country's foreign minister -- has been saying, "This is for real, we really are turning a corner in the way we approach Afghanistan. It's a state in its own right, it's not just rubbish in our backyard."
American officials believe this rhetoric is sincere, signifying a genuine change in strategy. The Pakistanis "are going out on a limb publicly, they are really pumping this thing," the official said. "Fundamentally, the message is quite consistent and well coordinated between... the five or 10 senior most people in their hierarchy," including Kayani, who serves as the chief of army staff.
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