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| Afghan President Receives Unexpected Welcome in Pakistan | Afghan President Receives Unexpected Welcome in Pakistan |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Afghan political advisers warned President Ashraf Ghani not to smile when he came here on Wednesday, but he soon found that to be hard going. | |
| As the Afghan president stepped off his plane at the airport, he appeared surprised to discover that the greeting party far exceeded the demands of protocol: The Pakistani prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, and the country’s military chiefs were on hand, along with many other dignitaries, and an honor guard blasted a 21-gun salute. | |
| It was the sort of welcome normally reserved for prominent allies, like the president of China or the king of Saudi Arabia, not for the leader of the neighborhing country with which Pakistan has been in a war of words, if not more, for years — and which has taken a turn for the worse in recent months. | |
| Mr. Ghani had been under intense pressure not to visit, even though he was the co-host, with Pakistan, of the Heart of Asia conference, an annual gathering of officials from Asian and other countries. The meeting was billed as an attempt to promote economic and security cooperation between Afghanistan and its neighbors, and was set to be attended by officials from every country in South and Central Asia. | |
| The warm welcome was a clear measure that Pakistan badly wants to mend that relationship. | |
| As many Afghans watched Mr. Ghani’s arrival on television, he smiled a bit, and he thanked Mr. Sharif profusely for the warm welcome. | |
| But in a speech shortly later, he reiterated criticism that Pakistan had failed to deprive the Taliban of havens here. | |
| “We are fighting on behalf of all of you, but we are the ones who are suffering some of the worst atrocities,” Mr. Ghani said. | “We are fighting on behalf of all of you, but we are the ones who are suffering some of the worst atrocities,” Mr. Ghani said. |
| A Facebook posting by Amrullah Saleh, the former intelligence chief of Afghanistan and an ardent critic of Pakistan, on the eve of the visit was representative of views expressed in his country. | |
| “Any member of the Afghan delegation who is found smiling in individual or group photos in the Islamabad conference will be degrading the blood of our 8,000 casualties in 2015,” Mr. Saleh said. He was apparently referring to Afghan police and military fatalities, which have increased greatly this year. | “Any member of the Afghan delegation who is found smiling in individual or group photos in the Islamabad conference will be degrading the blood of our 8,000 casualties in 2015,” Mr. Saleh said. He was apparently referring to Afghan police and military fatalities, which have increased greatly this year. |
| Mr. Ghani suffered a major political setback when he announced plans early this year to repair relations with Pakistan, an effort to bring about peace talks that Islamabad has made clear it is willing to facilitate. | |
| Then, over the summer, the Afghans discovered that the Pakistanis were arranging for them to, in effect, negotiate with a dead man, as news leaked out that the Taliban leader Mullah Muhammed Omar had been dead for two years. | Then, over the summer, the Afghans discovered that the Pakistanis were arranging for them to, in effect, negotiate with a dead man, as news leaked out that the Taliban leader Mullah Muhammed Omar had been dead for two years. |
| Many felt the leak was a deliberate move by the country’s National Directorate of Security, which, like Mr. Saleh, has long opposed better relations with Pakistan. Scuttling the talks led Mr. Ghani to reject his earlier efforts to reconcile with Pakistan. | Many felt the leak was a deliberate move by the country’s National Directorate of Security, which, like Mr. Saleh, has long opposed better relations with Pakistan. Scuttling the talks led Mr. Ghani to reject his earlier efforts to reconcile with Pakistan. |
| Only in recent weeks have there been tentative steps to restart peace talks with the Taliban, a process that Afghanistan’s Western allies believe Pakistan is crucial. | |
| Mr. Ghani’s government had demanded, but failed to receive, a series of guarantees from Pakistan before resuming warmer relations, a development that created pressure to skip the one-day conference. | Mr. Ghani’s government had demanded, but failed to receive, a series of guarantees from Pakistan before resuming warmer relations, a development that created pressure to skip the one-day conference. |
| The exact demands are not known, but they are believed to include guarantees to remove Taliban havens in Pakistan, measures to improve the treatment of Afghan refugees, and a pledge to refuse to treat Taliban wounded in Pakistani hospitals. | |
| The United States government pressed hard for Mr. Ghani not to boycott the meeting. Some Afghan officials felt their leader had no choice, considering the strong pressure from its allies. | |
| “His attendance, despite not seeing any progress from Pakistan, suggests that there are pressures from the donor countries in the West and China that he has to answer to,” said Abdul Qayoum Sajjadi, a member of the foreign relations committee of the Afghan Parliament. | |