ISLAMABAD: “General, rest assured. I will read every word of it,” said US President Barack Obama to the Pakistan chief of army staff who had just handed him a 13-page document.

On his way out of the room President Obama took the paper with him, not leaving it for his staff to place in the usual pipelines of official communication.

The document, branded as a non-paper, is an attempt to give voice to Pakistan's strategic interests in the policy review of the Afghanistan situation under way at the White House.

Diplomatic sources confirm that by taking the extraordinary step of placing the paper directly in the hands of President Obama, Gen Kayani has placed a strong “foot in the door of policy review”.

“I cannot say that the paper is going to be become President Obama's favourite reading material, but for the first time he has a direct understanding of where the Pakistan military is coming from on issues that are vital for the US and for global security,” said a western diplomat.

“I know at least one person who is quite convinced of the paper's arguments, and his name is Lt-Gen Douglas E. Lute,” said the diplomat, talking of the senior adviser and coordinator for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“The other person I have heard speak in great detail about the paper's contents is the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Admiral Michael Mullen,” said the same source.

The five-part paper details Pakistan's assessment of the situation in Afghanistan, with regard to the ongoing conflict and efforts to negotiate with the Taliban. It focuses on the nature of Pakistan's relations with the US and lists the possible ways out of the widening trust deficit between the two countries. It marks Pakistan's concerns regarding India, besides reviewing counter-terrorism efforts in the Fata region. It closes on a rather harsh note where the Pakistani public's perceptions of the US are listed as a way of portraying the challenges ahead for both Washington and Islamabad.

Diplomatic sources in Islamabad claim that on the eve of the policy review the paper has become “a rather significant document used not just for reference but also to assess precisely where Pakistan stands on the matrix of South Asian security”.“This is the first time we have a written account of the Pakistani establishment's core concerns,” said a western diplomat who has knowledge of the paper's contents.

Pakistan foreign office sources confirm that penning strategic concerns in totality is unusual. “This reduces diplomatic manoeuvrability,” said an official. “But this paper had to be sent because we were not sure whether Pakistan's point of view is properly understood in the White House. President Obama needs to understand the full context of our arguments on Afghanistan, on strategic ties with the US and India, and counter-terrorism.”

He admitted, however, that the paper did not have “a whole lot of input” from the Pakistan foreign office. “When it was prepared it was a highly classified document. I don't think more than a handful of people knew what was going to be in it and how it was going to be presented,” said the official.

These people included Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. Official sources confirm that both the prime minister and the foreign minister read the paper before it was handed over. The paper had decisive input from military commanders and the ISI. Military sources say that it took three days to chisel out the final version.

Cross-questioning

Pakistani delegates who attended the strategic dialogue's formal round in Washington the day after the paper was handed over to President Obama said that all the US participants were carrying copies of it.

“The first round of the talks was more like senate committee cross-questioning,” said a Pakistani member of the delegation. “Gen Kayani and the foreign minister were bombarded with queries by US members.”

The way forward in Afghanistan attracted the most attention.

“The US administration is caught in a difficult situation. They are preconditioning dialogue with the Taliban. They want the Taliban to first renounce violence, publicly disown Al Qaeda, and swear to abide by the constitution of Afghanistan,” said a Pakistani member of the delegation requesting anonymity. “What we are saying is that these preconditions should become end-conditions: negotiations should be a way to reach these goals.”

Those who have seen the paper say that it highlights the urgency of the situation in Afghanistan, saying that time is “short” and resources “limited”. It warns Washington that “idealism will have to operate within the confines of hard ground realities”.

Talking about the perquisite for an “all-embracing solution” to Afghanistan's problem the paper says that sharp focus has to be kept on the “history, geography and culture of Afghanistan”. It suggests that a “new strategic framework” has to be defined, including an “operating strategy”.

Long-term interests

The paper calls Afghanistan's war a matter of life and death for Pakistan. Gen Kayani articulated a similar argument in front of the US president while handing over the paper.

“Afghanistan is not just another war for us,” the general told the president, according to a delegate present. “We have to look after our long-term interests and cannot do anything in the short-term that would compromise those.”

In the paper, Pakistan's long-term interests are defined as “achieving enduring peace based on a stable environment”. The usual terminology of “friendly Afghanistan” does not find mention in the final outcome suggested in the paper, said a military source familiar with its contents.

Pakistan's desire to see “an all inclusive approach, open to all Afghans irrespective of their opposing viewpoints” permeates the paper's portion on Afghanistan. But even then it says that peace in Afghanistan might never be “complete, permanently stable, or uncontested” and should always be judged in “relative terms and in the Afghan environment”.

It advises Washington to have a “minimal agenda” and push for “broader public support” to achieve stability in Afghanistan.