Afghanistan

Rehman Chishti Excerpts

Thursday 21st March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hague]

On the hon. Lady’s first question, that will depend on the actions of the Taliban. Afghanistan and Pakistan support the opening of a Taliban political office in Doha, with our encouragement and with the support and readiness of Qatar. The Taliban leadership now need to decide whether they are prepared to take this opportunity to enter into a peaceful political process, or whether they will let it slip by and lose such an opportunity.

As to decisions about development—if my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development were here, she would prefer to put it in the positive sense—we are committed to development in Afghanistan with the programme of £178 million a year, and women’s rights are an important part of that programme. It is not our normal habit around the world to say, “This aid will be withdrawn unless you do X, Y and Z”. If countries behave in a completely unacceptable way, of course, we have been known to withdraw our assistance.

[Rehman Chishti (Gillingham and Rainham) (Con)]

On the point about commitment by the Governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Foreign Secretary will know that there may be a new Government in Pakistan in May, as there is an election going on, and that within a year there will be a new President in Afghanistan. Have there been discussions with some of the main opposition elements to see if they are committed to this process of working together for national security, peace and stability? Linked to that, will the Foreign Secretary join me in paying tribute to the Government and Parliament of Pakistan for the latter being the first in the history of Pakistan to serve its full term?

[Mr Hague]

Yes, I readily join in that tribute. This statement was very much focused on Afghanistan rather than on anything internal happening in Pakistan, which explains why I did not mention that earlier, but I absolutely join in that tribute. It is an important milestone in the democracy of Pakistan, which all parties across the House strongly support, that a democratically elected Government have served a full term and that another democratically elected Government of whatever shape or form will follow; that has never happened before in the history of Pakistan. The discussions we have hosted between the Pakistani and Afghan Governments have been broader than comprising just the political leaders, as they have included the military and intelligence leadership of those countries. Wherever possible, we have briefed opposition leaders. Just last week, for instance, I had discussions with the leading member of the opposition parties in Pakistan, Mr Nawaz Sharif. If opposition parties come into office, they will of course have to make their own decisions, but I believe there is a strong consensus across government—and, I hope, across political parties—in both countries in support of that.