To talk or not to talk...

by Mehlaqa Samdani

Despite India’s apparent reluctance to hold informal talks with Pakistan before the resumption of formal dialogue, it appears the United States has already begun the process of facilitating back-channel diplomacy between the two countries.  

According to the Asia Times, the “initial model for reconciliation between India and Pakistan has been drawn from that of post-World War II United States and Soviet relations, in which those two countries agreed not to meddle in Finland and Yugoslavia”.  In the South-Asian context, back-channel talks will aim to have “India reduce its presence in the southern Afghan provinces bordering Pakistan. In return, India could consolidate its activities around Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital of the northern province of Balkh, where Pakistan would not interfere.”

In recent days Pakistan appointed a former foreign secretary, Riaz Mohammad Khan, to lead this effort from the Pakistani side  and recently invited India to work in close cooperation in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, civil society organizations are doing their part to foster constituencies of peace in the three neighboring countries.  Over the summer, a trialogue with over fifty participants from India, Pakistan and Afghanistan was held in Delhi by an independent Indian think-tank, the Delhi Policy Group.   The aim was to determine “whether Afghanistan and Pakistan could frankly discuss their security threats and evolve a coordinated approach to them; and whether India and Pakistan could renew their peace process in such a way that it could stabilize Afghanistan”

A brief overview of the evolution of the Indo-Pakistan peace process since 2003 and the impact of spoilers can be found in a Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies report.

Flickr photo used under a Creative Commons License