As United States made public that it was exploring possibilities for peace-talks with the Haqqani Network with the help of the Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence, New Delhi is likely to remind Washington and its allies in the West that the ‘Red Lines’ agreed upon during the London Conference in January 2010 should be strictly adhered to both in case of Taliban in Afghanistan as well for extremists based on the Pakistani side of the Durand Line.
The ‘Red Lines’ refer to the criteria – like abjuring violence and snapping links with all terrorist groups – of the extremists, whom could be engaged in peace process.
The conference on “Afghanistan: Security and Cooperation in the Heart of Asia” in Istanbul is being hosted by Turkey as a prelude to a similar conclave to be held in Bonn on December 5 next.
Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Iran, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and the US will attend the conference in Istanbul.
One of the most contentious issues on the agenda is a proposal for a regional security framework, which seeks to recognize equal state of the ‘neighbours’ and ‘near neighbours’ of Afghanistan in stabilization of the war-ravaged country after the withdrawal of the US-led International Security Assistance Force in 2014.
Pakistan is opposed to the plans as it perceives it as a move to confer enhanced role of India in Afghanistan.