DR Ashraf Ghani started his presidency on a positive note towards Pakistan despite most of Afghan leaders being Indian lackeys and hostile towards us.
However, when we could not bring the Taliban to the negotiating table, he started losing faith in us which, over time, turned into outright hostility.
Perhaps we did not have as much clout with Taliban as we created the impression that we had or else the good doctor had vastly overestimated it.
The Taliban`s biggest objection is to the presence of foreign troops, but the Afghan President can`t do much about it because the US pays the salary and expenses of Afghan army. Similarly, India is also deeply entrenched in Afghanistan. Of late China has shown great interest in Afghanistan.
I think the only solution lies in China substantially increasing its involvement there, replacing the financial aid and other services that the West and India presently provide to Afghanistan. Such a step could bring peace to Afghanistan while helping Pakistan and China.
