Pakistan won't interfere in Afghanistan if others don't: Aziz

Pakistan today stressed there should be no proxy war in Afghanistan, saying it would not interfere in the war-torn country if "Iran, India and all Central Asian countries" adopt a similar policy.
"We announced first that we will not interfere (in Afghanistan) on the condition that others also don't," said Sartaj Aziz, Advisor to the Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs.
He was responding to allegations that Pakistan interferes in Afghanistan's internal affairs while addressing a conference here on Pak-Afghan relations.
"We expect other regional countries to (adopt a policy of non-interference), so that we do not fight any proxy war inside Afghanistan and we allow (the Afghan reconciliation process) to be genuinely an Afghan process," he said.

"...India, Iran and all Central Asian countries, if we all follow the policy of non-interference, I think we can all help both in the security side by training the Afghan Army and also economic development and reconstruction."
Pakistan cannot follow the policy of non-interference if other neighbours do not adopt the same policy, he said.

Aziz's comments came on a day when Afghan President Hamid Karzai was in India on an official visit. Both Afghanistan and India have agreed to deepen defence and security cooperation.
Asked how Pakistan views this development, Aziz said: "As far as I know, India has been requested for training and helping the Afghan Army and we are also, and everyone else also should be prepared to do (this)."

He described proxy war as a situation "where you try to fill the security vacuum created by the drawdown" of NATO and US forces.
"When we announced we don't want any interference and no favourites, that means there should not be any security support to any groups," he added.
Pakistan, which has been jockeying for a larger role in the Afghan peace process, has often been accused of trying to create "strategic depth" in Afghanistan.
The Pakistani security establishment also wields influence over various Taliban factions in Afghanistan, especially the dreaded Haqqani network.
Pakistan accuses India of indulging in a proxy war in its territory through Afghanistan, a charge vehemently denied by New Delhi.