Inconclusive end to APTTA talks

Islamabad – The US-sponsored talks between Afghanistan and Pakistan to negotiate a new Afghanistan Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA) seeking transit facility for Indian goods up to Afghanistan through Pakistan’s land routes ended inconclusively here on Monday.
Senior Joint Secretary Commerce, Shahid Bashir, led the Pakistani team while the deputy minister for commerce and industries Adib Farhadi led the Afghan team.
Both sides agreed to firm up recommendations in the light of their three days closed-door deliberations for the consideration of their respective governments.
Although there was no official statement issued about the meeting, well-placed sources told TheNation that Kabul and Islamabad would hold a crucial meeting later this month, ostensibly under US pressure, to finally decide the fate of the US proposal seeking transit facility for India.
Sources were of the view that the US was struggling to secure this deal for India, its new strategic ally, ahead of initiating any serious diplomatic effort for resumption of the suspended composite dialogue process between the two South Asian nuclear neighbours.
Some knowledgeable sources were of the view that the proposed meeting, to be held in Islamabad, was being arranged despite Islamabad having already rejected the US sponsored proposal on the plea that this matter should be left for Pakistan and India in their deliberations through the composite dialogue.
Sources said that Pakistan had conveyed its serious concerns over giving India such a specific concession after its evident attempts to destabilise Pakistan by using the Afghan soil.
Sources said that the Pakistani side sought more time to thoroughly analyse the pros and cons of the proposed draft agreement because of the multidimensional threat being faced by Pakistan.
They were of the view that apart from the Indian threat through Afghanistan, Pakistan was simultaneously facing serious threats from Al-Qaeda operatives in Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as well as the pro-Indian elements of erstwhile Northern Alliance of Afghanistan.

Source:nation.com.pk/