Ashraf Ghani needs Pakistan help with Taliban talks BBC Online 13/01/2015 Now that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has unveiled a new cabinet he needs to urgently talk to the Taliban - and Pakistans generals, on whom he has staked his political future, must do more to help than they have publicly admitted to, writes guest columnist Ahmed Rashid. Sworn in on 29 September, Mr Ghanis poll ratings were dropping furiously last week. Due to the long election period and subsequent quarrels over the result, government departments had been without a minister for nearly a year. With his cabinet finally in place, he needs to get the ball rolling with policies and initiatives that will convince ordinary people that he leads a pro-active government determined to do good. Mr Ghani and Pakistans military - which controls Pakistans foreign policy and all national security decisions - also need to move forward on getting the Taliban to the negotiating table. The Afghan president is looked upon favourably by Pakistans generals. This is in large part because he has avoided any anti-Pakistan rhetoric and his long stints in government never led to open hostility with Islamabad. Even more remarkable is that Mr Ghani has so far not visited India - Pakistans long-standing regional rival - despite organising trips to all of Afghanistans other major neighbours..[..].. To read the complete article, please follow the link below pakistan - interviews | Ahmed Rashid ahmedrashid/publications/afganistan/articles/ Ahmed Rashid ahmedrashid
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 08:14:46 +0000
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