KARACHI: While ruling out talks with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said the country does not intend to carry out attacks against the group inside Afghanistan.
“We’re not interested in launching a cross-border operation, nor would we want to advocate for more military intervention after what we’ve already seen was the longest war,” Mr Bhutto-Zardari told Anadolu Agency on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Thursday.
Separately, in an interview with Washington Post’s Lally Weymouth, the foreign minister also ruled out talks with militants who don’t respect Pakistan’s Constitution and laws.
“The new leadership in Pakistan, both political and military, has been absolutely clear. There will be no talks with terrorist organisations that don’t respect our laws and constitution,” he told the Post.
Says Pakistan needs to engage with Afghan govt, seeks inclusion of Global South in ‘new world order’; Sherry calls for new financial model for 21st century
Mr Bhutto-Zardari said Pakistan was confident to work with the Afghan interim government, which he claimed has influence over these groups.
Pakistan was willing to build the capacity of the Afghan government to deal with the threat, he told Anadolu.
The foreign minister claimed that Pakistan successfully managed to break the backbone of the TTP and terrorist groups and blamed the previous PTI-led government’s “policy of appeasement toward the Pakistani Taliban’’ for the resurgence of terrorism, the Post reported.
Talking about the new reality that has emerged in Afghanistan after the US withdrawal, the foreign minister said everyone around the world was concerned about the potential use of Afghan soil for terrorist activities.
The interests of Pakistan and the US are aligned to eliminate terrorist groups from Afghanistan, he told the Post.
On the question of rekindling relationships with India, the foreign minister told the Post that dialogues were in both our countries’ interests to overcome challenges like poverty and climate change.
Global South in new world order
While speaking to a session titled ‘A New Helsinki’ at the WEF, the foreign minister emphasised the need for a new world order which includes input from Africa, Asia and the Global South.
He said the entire international order and financial institutions were built around the interests of the West and at the time of colonialism.
“If you have the buy-in of everyone then there’s more of a chance for it [the new order] to succeed,” he added.
He also called out the double standards of the United Nations’ resolutions when it comes to conflicts outside of the West.
“We find it ironic that the UN applies in Ukraine but not in Iraq. We find it sad that the UN Security Council resolutions that mean so much to all of Europe and all of the West right now mean nothing more than the paper that they’re written on when it comes to the case of Kashmir.”
However, he added Pakistan wanted to see the Ukraine conflict resolved through diplomacy sooner rather than later.
While referring to the war on terror in Afghanistan, Mr Bhutto-Zardari said Afghan Taliban were willing to surrender and negotiate in 2002 but the US and other western forces did not take that opportunity seriously. “[They] ended up having to do the same thing in 2022.”
“I hope that eventually the space is created for some sort of dialogue and diplomatic engagement to resolve the conflict,” he said while calling all parties to come to the table for the resolution of the crisis in Ukraine.
New financial architecture
Federal Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman on Thursday called for revisiting the “financial architecture of the 20th century” as it can no longer meet the needs and challenges of the 21st century, APP has reported.
Addressing a session ‘How to Turbocharge Development Finance’ at the WEF, Ms Rehman said, “It’s high time we address this because the established boundaries and frameworks are now outdated, and there is a need to revisit them and prepare for the challenges of this century which requires a collective approach on a global scale.”
Ms Rehman also called for expanding the role of international financial institutions to bridge financing gaps faced by the developing world.
Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2023
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