342 Revista del Instituto Español de Estudios Estratégicos Núm. 2 / 2013 Afghanistan and there has even been talk of the Afghan Armed Forces receiving training from the Pakistani army20. This is proof of attempts over the last year to bring Afghanistan and Pakistan closer together. It is, however, precisely the obsession that Pakistan has with obtaining a friendly regime in Kabul that forms the main obstacle to achieving normal relations between both countries. Although it is possible that the Pakistani line of thought has evolved, perhaps leading to it abandon the concept of “strategic depth”, as asserted by the new US ambassador in Islamabad, Richard Olson21, its links with the Taliban uphold its essential role in its neighbour’s future, as stated by General McChrystal22 himself in his recent book My share of the task23. General Kayani defines the aim of “strategic depth” as: “A peaceful, stable and friendly Afghanistan, no more and no less”24. Although he does not go on to say what cards Pakistan may have up its sleeve in order to achieve this aim. At any rate, faced with future peace talks with the Taliban, which would shape the future of Afghanistan after 2014, Pakistan has shown that it intends to defend its interests, including by rendering these talks impossible if necessary. 5. Attempts to negotiate with the afghan taliban The much-debated possibility of holding talks with the Taliban existed since the fall of their regime at the end of 2001. Despite being an option favoured from the outset by the Afghan president himself, Hamid Karzai, the US dismissed this possibility until the arrival of the Obama administration in the White House. Growing Taliban activity in Afghanistan as of 2006, and their consolidation as a power in the country since 2008, would have led the US to contemplate a negotiated way out of a war that is increasingly seen as impossible to win. On the other hand, the economic cost of the war in Afghanistan, combined with the financial crisis and the growing weariness of Western societies as regards the presence of their soldiers in the Central Asian country, made the leaders of the international coalition, in particular the Europeans, more receptive to the option of talks. 20 YOUSAF, Kamran, “Deal in the making: Pakistan Army likely to begin training Afghan forces”, The Express Tribune, 29 January 2013. 21 APP, “Pakistan has moved away from strategic depth approach”, Dawn, 1 August 2012. 22 US General Stanley A. McChrystal was commander of NATO troops in Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010. 23 IQBAL, Anwar, “Pakistan has role in Afghan solution: retired US general”, Dawn, 11 February 2013. 24 GUL, Imtiaz, The most dangerous place. Pakistan’s lawless frontier, New Delhi, Penguin Books, 2010, p. 10.
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