SENIOR PAKISTAN SENATOR ASKS FOR HELP IN REACHING

C O N F I D E N T I A L ISLAMABAD 000029 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/28/2016 TAGS: PREL PK AF SUBJECT: SENIOR PAKISTAN SENATOR ASKS FOR HELP IN REACHING OUT TO AFGHAN COUNTERPARTS REF: A. ISLAMABAD 22303 ¶B. DOHERTY-ROSENBERRY E-MAIL 4 DECEMBER 06 Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Peter W. Bodde, Reasons 1.4 (b), (d) ¶1. (C) On December 28, Pakistan Muslim League Secretary General and Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Mushahid Hussain Sayed told poloffs that his attempts to make progress on starting a regular parliamentary exchange with his Afghan counterparts (as discussed in ref A) are going nowhere. The senator raised his invitation with outgoing Afghan Ambassador Tarzi in mid-December, discussing it publicly during a press event highlighting Pak-Afghan relations. Mushahid Hussain wishes to establish regular interaction between Pakistani and Afghan parliamentarians. He specifically requested USG assistance in encouraging Kabul to engage on his proposed initiative. ¶2. (C) Mushahid Hussain said that it is unfortunate that negative public rhetoric from Afghan officials increased in December. In contrast to India, he felt that few Pakistani officials had sufficiently strong personal relationships with their Afghan colleagues to feel comfortable enough to reach out directly to dampen the public criticism. ¶3. (C) Comment: When Mushahid Hussain first discussed his ideas on cross-border parliamentary outreach, poloffs were supportive but emphasized the importance of direct dialogue with Afghan officials (Ref A). As it now seems that his attempts to elicit a response have fallen flat, USG intervention may help. There is real political will on the part of Pakistan's Senate Foreign Relations Committee to reach out, an exercise that could broaden the bilateral dialogue and avoid putting all our eggs in the already heavy cross-border jirga basket. End Comment. ¶4. (C) Post has been in contact with Embassy Kabul seeking guidance on how best to link Senator Mushahid Hussain to a receptive counterpart in the Afghan parliament and will continue to do so. CROCKER