'Pak, Afghanistan need to become full partners in any US plan to ensure peace'

Lahore, Jan 30 (ANI): The people and the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan "need to become full partners" in any US plan to ensure peace and security in the region, a leading Washington-based think tank has recommended.

"Too many decisions are being made on their behalf, without their involvement or buy in," say Karin von Hippel and Frederick Barton, co-directors of the Post-Conflict Reconstruction Project of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

"Both countries are too big and too complex to allow their development and security to be off shored. Pakistanis and Afghans need to be fully in the lead, with international partners in an integrated, supporting role," the Daily Times quoted them, as saying.

Fighting extremism, rebuilding governance in Afghanistan, and supporting "a weak democratic government" in Pakistan "dwarf the past two decades of global state-building activities combined and are too big to be done alone," the experts believe.

"To succeed, a strategy must have four elements: The innovative use of all the tools of US foreign policy, including development, diplomatic and military activities; the genuine inclusion of America's key allies; the coherent engagement of regional powers, including India, Iran, China, Russia and Saudi Arabia; and most importantly, ownership of the new approach by the people and the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan," the report said. (ANI)