Tag Archives: Ashraf Ghani

What can Beijing do to contain the spiral of violence and prevent the region from sliding into a protracted phase of instability? Pakistan's leading analyst Imtiaz Gul sheds light on the possibilities in an open letter to the Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Afghans are disheartened by their leadership – both President Ghani and the Taliban. The common perception is that the Afghan leadership has squandered the opportunity in the intra-Afghan peace talks to resolve the conflict by stubbornly sticking to their respective positions. 

Why president Ghani has launched a toxic diatribe against Pakistan, just days after Pakistan's Army Chief assured him of his country's continued support for the peace process in Afghanistan? One of Pakistan's leading defense analysts tries to find answers.

While the US, Russia and China have their own interests in the matter one should be careful to try to put pressure on a process that is supposed to be ‘Afghan-led and Afghan-owned; the experience with the Bonn conference in 2001 that tried to prescribe conditions to Afghans have rather not been helpful. And the threat of the US to delay their troop pull-out is a game-breaker looming large over the situation.

Are Afghanistan's key power players positioning themselves for a new phase of fierce power struggle, particularly in view of President Ghani’s determination to hang on to power? He may be banking on Joe Biden’s victory but will Biden be able to reverse much of Trump’s doing including a partial choking of funds for Kabul?

America's top official overseeing Afghanistan's reconstruction warns return of civil war if President Ghani's government stops "lip service" to international donors and gets serious in fighting the endemic corruption in his country.

It seems, President Ghani refuses to stop singling out Pakistan for his country’s ills. And as if to respond to the apparent brinkmanship by Ghani, President Trump spoke with the Taliban chief Mulla Ghani for 35 minutes over phone.

A big question facing us all is: is it a smoke-screen Trump has created before dropping a bombshell or has the US security establishment finally triumphed over the whimsical, matter-of-fact president who loves to fly solo, and probably seeking glory?  

The developing situation on lasting peace in Afghanistan augurs well for the region as the Afghan quagmire has continued for too long. All stakeholders must now cash on this available window of opportunity; if nations do not cooperate and work together, it is the people who suffer.

Afghan President Ghani’s decision to break through the walls of rancor and suspicion is an extremely welcome step. It will hopefully reset the relationship to the benefit of Pakistan and Afghanistan.