An interview with Khaled Zekriya, director general of the Afghan foreign ministry's fifth division Officials from Pakistan and Afghanistan are set to meet again in Islamabad for talks between May 5 and 8 to discuss issues related to the border regions. The Canadian-led effort is aimed at connecting government to people, empowering the communities living across the Durand Line to help curb militancy, curtail movement of drugs and of criminal gangs that act as contributing factors to the insurgency. Khaled Zekriya, director general of the Afghan foreign ministry's Fifth Division, who is also head of anti-Mine Action Programme, is also part of the process. Here are excerpts from his interview on the state of Afghan relations with the international community and the Pak Afghan relations.

Q: How do you look at the proposal put forth by the government of Canada?
A: A proposal was put forth by the government of Canada about a year and a half ago at the ministry of foreign affairs we looked at the proposal. This was regarding Durand line areas between Afghanistan and Pakistan and after making some modifications and alterations on that proposal. The proposal was funded to our Pakistani brothers and they reviewed it and then we came up with the final agenda. On October 30-31 and Nov1st high officials of the Afghan government and Pakistan government met in Dubai and discussed. The gathering was chaired and facilitated by the government of Canada. In that three-day gathering we identify 5 high-priority non-binding operational areas based on common needs and common interests of both the countries.
First connecting government to people then economy and social development programmes. Secondly customs third area, which was highlighted, was countering narcotics. Fourth was development and the other area was movement of people across the Durand line. The meetings were fruitful and we came up with a general consensus. Both officials from Pakistan and Afghan governments agreed that we need to further pursue this matter and as a result we decided to have two workshops to be held in Kabul and in Islamabad. The final policy making workshop will be held in Doha or in Dubai. Thereafter in March 5th and 6th Senior Advisor from the Canadian sides came to Kabul and prior to that day distributed a series of questionnaires and theses. The questionnaires were funded to our focal points in various ministries herein Afghanistan. We filled out the questionnaires. Now we have reached the consolidating phase that in May 5th and 6th, the 2  first workshop will be held which is counter narcotics and customs. We’ll be dealing with the three later issues and thereafter we’ll probably meet in Islamabad. Thereafter we’ll be meeting in Kabul or Islamabad again if there will be a need.

Q: Do you think it will lead to  improved confidence between the two countries?
A: Confidence building has been taking place for the past 7 years, till to date our Pakistani brothers have been very cooperative in many areas, this is another step towards strengthening “more cooperative”, I think our meeting in Dubai was emblematic  of integral relationship that we have had with our Pakistani brothers for decades. Hence, I am pretty confident that we would come up with some concrete outputs. You have to understand that the tribal areas on the south of the Durand line and the ethnic groups, Pashtun groups on the North sides of the Durand line are in very much need of economic and social development, our US friends have also put forward a proposal called reconstruction opportunity zones in the areas along the Durand line. We believe that through these small, medium and large projects on both sides of the Durand line we are confident that this will bring stability and security to both the countries.

Q : Do you think this will also help in curbing violence and terrorism?
A: Indeed we have come up with a series of mechanism as far as the movement of politics is concerned and also as far as countering narcotics is concerned we came up with series of steps which would be taken by both sides. For instance, we are going to provide, we will create processes, we will use technology to check the docs that are going to be used for this cross border movement. We have various sorts of movement. We have traditional ways of movement. The government of Afghanistan has already issued a series of documents that will be used.
The other issues are passports. We are going to put emphasis on the issue of passports. We will be dealing with the issue of strengthening our board of petrol because we are in the midst of strengthening our Afghan narcotics police, we started very late and hence it’s going to take a while to strengthen our police.

Q: What was the problem with the biometric system that Pakistan introduced?
A: The biometric system was put forth for a short period of time by our Pakistani brothers and the criticism came from the ministry of interior and also from the ministry of frontier in tribal areas of Afghanistan and I think we had problems with procedures up to some extent and also its going to take a while from us to coordinate that biometric system. The gathering in Islamabad will further facilitate. We will come up with ideas that will be feasible to both the countries.

Q: In principle, there is no disagreement?
A: I can’t speak on the behalf of the ministry of interior, May 24th and 25th we will have that gathering for countering narcotics, the issue of the biometrics will come up and also the movement across the area. So, these issues will be discussed.
Q: Do you hope that this process will also address the Durand line issue?
A: No, initially as the head of the delegation on behalf of the Islamic government of Afghanistan. When we went to Dubai, the pre-requisite was that we would not discuss the issue of Durand Line because this is beyond my jurisdiction and it is beyond the jurisdiction of my ministry. It is entirely up to the people of Afghanistan and also people of the south of the Durand Line to make the decision. This issue will need time. It’s a controversial issue for both. The issues that we are going to talk about are technical issues of great importance.

Q: It looks like the Canadians are managing a lot? Is it correct?
A: That’s correct. The Canadians have always played a central role in assisting Afghanistan. Their 3-dimensional approach has been development, defense and diplomacy. They have been very active in Afghanistan. They have always played a crucial role as far as creating a balance and equilibrium on sensitive issues e.g. de-mining. These are some of the areas in which they have played a mediating role.

Q: It looks that there is a lot of involvement as far as bilateral contentious issues are -concerned?
A: Yes, but at the same time we have serious common challenges that we have faced. Both Pakistan and Afghanistan.  We have come up with the realisation especially issues of narcotics and terrorism as a common menace and we have to fight against this common menace. There has to be cooperation, accountability and transparency. And we have to put forth processes that are going to be result-oriented. The NATO forces in Afghanistan need to look at this strategy and this strategy should be in lieu of our national interests.

Q: Bokharist Summit was one landmark in this?
A: Canadians played a pivotal role in Bokharist summit and the final documents that is going come out is a personification of how proactive Canada has been in Afghanistan and especially as it relates to the foreign policy. I think they are a heavyweight when it comes to mediation, negotiation skills and we have been very much in close contact with the Canadian friends as far as Bokharist was concerned. This is something they were looking for to create cooperation, sustainability and persistence and military approaches and also to resolve the issues. We not only need military processes but we also need development.

Q: Pak-Afghan relations – how do you compare the present situation with that 2-3 years ago?
A: Enormous improvement has been seen in bilateral relations. The last Karzai’s visit to Pakistan brought the two countries closer. Lets not forget the ‘peace jirga’. Karzai’s visit to Pakistan and also the latest events that have occurred in Pakistan, the transparent parliamentary elections, itself have brought both countries together.