Pakistan encourages alternative approach

UNITED NATIONS — Be realistic. Show patience. Engage. And above all, don’t isolate. Those are the pillars of an approach emerging in Pakistan to deal with the fledgling government that is suddenly running the country next door once again — Afghanistan’s resurgent, often-volatile Taliban.

Pakistan’s government is proposing the international community develop a road map that leads to diplomatic recognition of the Taliban — with incentives if they fulfill requirements — and then sit down face to face and talk it out with the militia’s leaders.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi outlined the idea Wednesday in an interview with The Associated Press on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

“If they live up to those expectations, they would make it easier for themselves, they will get acceptability, which is required for recognition,” Qureshi said. “At the same time, the international community has to realize: What’s the alternative? … This is the reality, and can they turn away from this reality?”

He said Pakistan “is in sync with the international community” in wanting to see a peaceful Afghanistan with no space for terrorism to increase their foothold, and for the Taliban to ensure “Afghan soil is never used again against any country.

“But we are saying, be more realistic in your approach,” Qureshi said. “Try an innovative way of engaging with them. The way that they were being dealt with has not worked.”

Expectations from the Taliban leadership could include an inclusive government and assurances for human rights, especially for women and girls, Qureshi said. In turn, he said, the Afghan government might be motivated by receiving development, economic and reconstruction aid to help recover from decades of war.

He urged the U.S., International Monetary Fund and other countries that have frozen Afghan government funds to release the money so it can be used “for promoting normalcy in Afghanistan.” And he pledged that Pakistan is ready to play a “constructive, positive” role in open communication with the Taliban because it, too, benefits from stability.

This is the second time the Taliban, who adhere to a strict version of Islam, have ruled Afghanistan. The first time, from 1996 to 2001, ended when they were ousted by a U.S.-led coalition after the 9/11 attacks, which were directed by Osama bin Laden from Afghanistan.

During that rule, Taliban leaders and police barred girls from school and prohibited women from working outside the home or leaving it without a male escort. After they were overthrown, Afghan women still faced challenges in the male-dominated society, but increasingly stepped into powerful positions.

But when the U.S. withdrew its military from Afghanistan last month, the government collapsed and a new generation of the Taliban resurged.

In the weeks since, many countries have expressed disappointment the Taliban’s interim government is not inclusive as it had promised.

While the new government has allowed young girls to attend school, it has not yet allowed older girls to return to secondary school, and most women to return to work despite a promise in April women “can serve their society in the education, business, health and social fields while maintaining correct Islamic hijab.”

The challenges ahead were evident Thursday, when one of the founders of the Taliban said the hard-line movement will once again carry out executions and amputations of hands, though perhaps not in public.

Mullah Nooruddin Turabi, who was the chief enforcer of the Taliban’s harsh interpretation of Islamic law when they last ruled Afghanistan, dismissed outrage over the Taliban’s executions in the past, which sometimes took place in front of crowds at a stadium. He warned the world against interfering with their rule.