Former Pakistan Ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani today urged regional powers to begin dialogue to prevent Afghanistan from slipping into a civil war-like situation after pullout of American troops later this year.
"It is not in the interest of anyone to see civil war in Afghanistan," he said at a roundtable on 'Afghanistan post 2014 and the Implications for the Region' at Observer Research Foundation here.
"There can be dialogue among regional powers to decide not to foment or create civil war and not to exacerbate civil war, if it starts. That would be really good," he said.
He said Afghanistan remains a tribally fragmented society and so a fractured political mandate is a possibility.
Haqqani said he was confident that the Afghan army and police, well armed and trained, would be able to hold on after the US pullout.
And also the institutions set up in the last decade would endure.
However, the worry is on who will foot the bills, as the US and Western economic package will shrink drastically, putting enormous strains on the Afghan economy, Haqqani added.
