• Urges world to redouble efforts to revive stalled Afghan peace process
• States that India uses Afghan soil for terrorist activities in Pakistan
• Says Pakistan not in a position to handle further influx of refugees
• Moeed emphasises Islamabad only stands for peace

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has said it considers the Unites States a friend and wants broad-based relations to achieve the shared objective of peace and prosperity in the region and beyond.

“We believe that both countries have a history of close cooperative relations, which have served our shared interests,” Foreign Office spokesman Zahid Hafeez Chaudhry said at a weekly press briefing here on Friday.

He said both countries had convergence of views and interests on a number of key issues, including the ongoing Afghan peace process, and they believed that there was no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan and wanted to see peace there. “Both Pakistan and the US support an inclusive, broad-based and comprehensive political settlement in Afghanistan through a process that is owned and led by Afghans themselves,” he stressed.

Recalling that Pakistan played a key role in facilitating the US-Taliban agreement for peace in Afghanistan in February last year, the FO spokesman said: “We have repeatedly stated that neither should Pakistan be looked at through the prism of another country, nor should our relations be viewed narrowly. We want to build long-term, broad-based, comprehensive and mutually beneficial partnerships rather than having transactional relations,” he added.

Mr Chaudhry said Pakistan would take all such decisions and pursue policies that serve the national interest and contribute to peace and prosperity in the region and beyond. Expressing deep concern over the rapidly deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan and lack of progress in the peace process, he said it was evident that after the people of Afghanistan it was Pakistan that has suffered the most due to decades of conflict in Afghanistan. He said Pakistan suffered over 80,000 casualties and $150 billion of economic losses since 2001.

“As immediate neighbor of Afghanistan, with over 4 million Afghan refugees hosted for four decades, we have an enduring interest in peace and stability in Afghanistan. Therefore, no other country can be more desirous of peace and stability in Afghanistan than Pakistan,” he said, adding that Pakistan remained consistent in its support to the Afghan peace process.

“Our support has been critical in achieving the key milestones so far, including the US-Taliban deal to bring peace, initiation of intra-Afghan negotiations and the agreement between Afghan parties on the rules and procedures”.

Withdrawal of US, Nato troops

Answering a volley of questions about pullout of US and Nato forces from Afghanistan, Mr Chaudhry said Pakistan had always underscored the need for responsible and orderly withdrawal so that there was no security vacuum in Afghanistan that could be exploited by any spoilers, as well as international terrorist outfits. “We have also emphasised that the withdrawal of foreign troops must coincide with the progress in the peace process.”

The FO spokesman said that at this critical juncture it was critical for the international community to redouble their efforts to revive the stalled peace process to achieve an inclusive, broad-based and comprehensive political settlement.

“As for India’s role, we believe that India has always played and continues to play the role of a ‘spoiler’ in the ongoing Afghan peace process. They have always supported a military solution over a negotiated political settlement, and used the Afghan soil for sponsoring terrorist activities in Pakistan,” he remarked.

On the issue of use of Afghan soil by anti-Pakistan elements, he said that last year Pakistan had presented a comprehensive dossier containing irrefutable evidence of India’s active planning, promoting, aiding, abetting, financing and execution of terrorist activities in Pakistan. We have also recently exposed the Indian hand in the terrorist attack in Lahore.

“More recently, we have presented concrete evidence regarding the involvement of RAW-NDS nexus in the Dasu terrorist incident. Such activities make India culpable under the international law, UN sanctions regime and international counterterrorism conventions.

“We have been consistently sharing the evidence with the international community, and will continue to use all relevant forums, including the United Nations, to not only expose India but also hold it accountable to perpetrating state-sponsored terrorism against Pakistan,” he said.

Influx of Afghan refugees

About the announcement by Pakistan to host an Afghan peace conference which was later postponed, the FO spokesman said the new date would be announced at an appropriate time. Asked if Pakistan will send back Afghan refugees, he said: “We have repeatedly underscored the need for a time-bound, dignified and well-resourced plan for the return of Afghan refugees to their homeland. We urge the international community to cooperate with Pakistan in this regard.” He said Pakistan feared that further worsening of the security situation in Afghanistan could have serious implications for it, including the spillover effect on Pakistan and the possibility of further influx of Afghan refugees. “We have clearly stated that Pakistan is not in a position to handle any further influx of refugees,” he remarked.

About the malicious propaganda against Pakistan, he said it was part of the rather blatant and ongoing misinformation campaign against Pakistan to malign the country and its state institutions.

Use of Afghan soil against Pakistan National Security Adviser (NSA) Dr Moeed Yusuf on Friday said the Afghan leadership lacked sincere intention to contain use of its soil against Pakistan damaging peace and security of the region.

The NSA was responding to the accusations levelled by a BBC news anchor questioning Pakistan’s role in the Afghan peace process and allegations by Awami National Party leader Affrasiab Khattak blaming the government for chaos in Afghanistan.

Dr Yusuf refused to respond to Mr Khattak’s accusations flagged by the BBC anchor and emphasised that Pakistan only stood for peace and that’s why it had fenced its entire border with Afghanistan and called the Afghan government to place a biometric system for controlled mobility between the two countries, which the latter refused.

He said it was the Afghan government which not only opposed the border fencing initiative but also Pakistan’s proposal for proper visa regime. “If you are to level an allegation then it should be logical one as the regions falling to Taliban are on the other side of Afghanistan; how Pakistan can assist that debacle,” he wondered.

The NSA noted that there were serious questions on the intentions of the other side [Afghan leadership] that needed to be looked into. “We can continue this conversation, however, we have seen Twitter hashtags blaming Pakistan and asking to sanction the country and calling it responsible for chaos in Afghanistan,” he said.

The Pakistan government, he said, minutely observed it and found that 65 per cent was ‘bot activity’ (robot generated tweets) and mostly operated from the Afghan government and Indian accounts.

In reply to a question pertaining to alleged Afghan safe havens in Pakistan, Dr Yusuf said these people and their parents were Afghan refugees, their women had married in Pakistan and some of them were born here as the world had abandoned Afghanistan as it is doing now. He said Pakistan had to support those people who laid their trust upon it.

Published in Dawn, August 14th, 2021