ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – The Pakistani military is scrambling to shore up ties with Afghanistan to ensure a central role in a negotiated settlement of the conflict as the beginning of a US military withdrawal draws closer.
Uneasy neighbours Pakistan and Afghanistan took an important step last weekend, agreeing to include Pakistani military and intelligence officials in a commission seeking peace with the Taliban, giving Pakistan’s security establishment a formal role in any talks.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been fraught for decades largely because Pakistan has seen successive Afghan governments as