No peace in Afghanistan till Pak stops militants from seeping in: Canada

OTTAWA - Canada has backed Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s reconciliation efforts, but it believes that peace in the war tattered country is unattainable till militants continue to seep into the country from neighbouring nations like Pakistan.

Canada’s Ambassador to Afghanistan William Crosbie said militants from Pakistan’s terror safe havens continue to pour into Afghanistan, which the international community needs to plug for the reconciliation process to succeed.

“Many more foreign fighters, many more who come over from the safe havens in Pakistan and that’s the part that the international community needs to work on with Pakistan, with India, with Iran, with other neighbouring countries,” The Globe and Mail quoted Crosbie, as saying.

Crosbie, however, warned that the political discourse concerning the reconciliation with the Taliban was “going too far” and “too fast”.

“The international community should be insisting that the process is one that includes all Afghans because the reconciliation cannot be between the Karzai government and the Taliban leadership. That’s a recipe for disaster,” he said.

“It has to be a reconciliation among Afghans to come back to build the future of their country in a way that each ethnic and women’s groups feels it respects their interests,” Crosbie added.

He underlined that the Afghan government still has to gain hold over large parts of the country, and that is was particularly ‘weak’ in the southern part of the country where the Taliban rules the roost.

“It’s going to take time. The government is in a weak position, particularly in the south. If the process is not inclusive then the outcome is going to be flawed and it could lead to another civil war,” Crosbie said. (ANI)