"Patience is bitter but the fruits are sweet" (Afghan proverb, Secretary of State Clinton, Afghanistan conference)

31 maart 2009

Monday 30 March 13.00 hours: Afghanistan is a long way from heaven and close to Pakistan, Ambassador Said Jawad, Afghan Ambassador to the United States, joked during a roundtable at the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies. With the US policy review, we are moving from the light footprint to the right footprint, he said.

Tuesday 31 March: 09.30 hours: Secretary of State Clinton praises Minister Verhagen. "The 3-D approach is exactly the right framework." "You are a miracle worker." Our strategy review is building on the ideas and principles of the Dutch efforts in Afghanistan. Minister Verhagen looked slightly overwhelmed at so much praise. What's next? He may have thought.

10.45: President Karzai welcomes back to Afghanistan all Taliban without ties to Al-Qaida who accept the Afghan Constitution and are committed to peace. Reconciliation is central to achieving peace in Afghanistan, the President says. He emphasizes that poppy cultivation only takes place where the Afghan government is not present. We must re-establish Afghan rule. 11.15: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon urges the conference to commit with renewed vigour, refocus the priorities of the Afghan compact and be realistic. "We must avoid a defeatist attitude and seize the opportunity for progress." 11.45: Russia presented the outcomes of the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, an organisation of China, Russia and the central Asian states, usually a platform for curbing US influence in the central Asian region, that took place over the weekend in Moscow. For the first time, the United States had joined the meeting as an observer. The meeting called for international, inter-ethnic and inter-religious dialogue to fight terrorist ideology. 12.45: Pakistan's foreign minister Qureshi underscored the friendly relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan but stated that international involvement in the region should be based on a strict adherence to the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and non-interference. Any sustainable solution should have the wholehearted support of all stake-holders and international forces should have no hidden agenda. In other words, no NATO ground troops in Pakistan.

Lunch break. The corridors filled with ministers and other delegates, freely mingling with other participants and media. BBC asked me to do two live interviews. 13.45: The highlight of the Hague 'big tent meeting' was the Mr. Akhundzadeh, deputy foreign minister of Iran. He urged the international community to safeguard its objective in Iran, to help the Afghan people to establish security and reconstruct their country, and "refrain from any kind of deviation from this motto or from giving priority to political or military matters." Mr. Akhundzadeh warned that victory over terrorism cannot be achieved only through militarism but that it is essential to remove the roots of terrorism and agree on a common definition of terrorism. 14.30: China pledged its full support to the international community's efforts in Afghanistan but cautioned that counter-terrorism efforts should address both the symptoms and the root causes of terrorism and avoid civilian casualties. Terrorism should be eliminated through peaceful development, Minister Wu Dawei stated.

15.00: India made a passionate plea for a zero tolerance approach towards terrorism and welcomed continued US efforts to fight terrorism. It underscored the importance of regional cooperation.

15.30: I ran into Minister Spanta, foreign minister of Afghanistan, in the corridors, accompanied by Mariko Peters. I asked him how we could achieve the new US strategy goals in Pakistan, given its preoccupation with India. Minister Spanta answered that we should focus on strengthening the civilian government and create development opportunities for people in the tribal border areas between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Asked whether military force was still necessary, Minister Spanta answered that it was essential to pursue the irreconcilable Taliban leaders with ties to Al-Qaida militarily.

16.30: US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke meets his Iranian counterpart for a "cordial and pleasant" chat. The encounter happened spontaneously in the corridors, according to Secretary of State Clinton. It was the first time in 30 years that a meeting at this level took place. Afghanistan offers an opportunity to bring the two countries closer together and work cooperatively on a common cause. The removal of Iran from 'the axis of evil' carries significance far beyond the Afghanistan Conference. 18.00: The outcome of the conference: A pledge for a coordinated and strategically coordinated approach: more civilian, more diplomatic, more Afghan. The participants agreed to "eliminate sanctuaries for Al-Qaeda and other terrorist networks wherever they exist" reaffirming that such networks pose a global threat. The last sentence of the 'chairman's statement' states that this should be done with ISAF operating within its current mandate, and consistent with the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Pakistan and Afghanistan. 19.00: An afterthought: What this Hague jirga yielded is that the war in Afghanistan is no longer an America war on terror, but a regional effort to tackle a common security threat. The new counter insurgency strategy is more civilian and fights terrorism with development and diplomacy rather than with military force alone. The parameters for talking to the Taliban are clear: irreconcilable elements with ties to Al-Qaida will not get away with government positions. Red lines were drawn: no interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states. This begs the question how, practically, rooting out terrorist sanctuaries in Pakistan can be achieved.