ISTANBUL: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has announced that the United States (US) should systematically withdraw its forces from Afghanistan to prevent what had happened in the 1990s in the country.
“If US withdrawal is not systematic, we are concerned that Afghanistan may get sucked into a situation that we experienced in the 1990s, when there was anarchy and civil war,” the foreign minister said while in an interview with an international news agency.
FM Qureshi pointed out that the people of Afghanistan have paid the biggest price. “The second to the Afghans are Pakistanis. We lost 83,000 lives on account of terrorism. Our economy has suffered close to over $128 billion,” he added.
He also noted that Pakistan hosts nearly 3 million Afghan refugees for four decades, saying that they do not want another influx of refugees. “We think it’s time that they go back home with honor and dignity,” he added.
“As far as peace of Afghanistan is concerned, my point is, and my contention is that this is a shared responsibility. Pakistan is already in its role, but it’s basically the conciliation within Afghanistan,” he asserted.
Stressing that the ownership and the responsibility lie on the Afghan leadership, FM Qureshi added they have to sit together and decide on their future. “Pakistan can only facilitate the process,” he said, adding that they cannot tell Afghanistan what to do as Afghanistan is a sovereign and independent country.
Regarding bilateral relations with Turkey, Qureshi said the countries have an excellent relationship based on trust and friendship, leading to an economic partnership in the future.
“We cooperate for a number of platforms. We have a new economic framework that was put into place when President Erdogan visited Pakistan last time. We have now this high-level consultation mechanism and [Imran Khan] the Prime Minister of Pakistan will be visiting Turkey for this issue,” he added.
On the Gwadar port project, he said it will be the shortest route for landlocked Afghanistan and Central Asian republics to sea range. “There is huge potential for Gwadar to become the hub of economic duty,” he added, inviting Turkish investors in the special economic zones that are being developed along the economic corridor.
Qureshi also referred to India’s removal of the articles in the constitution that ensure the protection of the demographic structure and special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
Stressing that India violated the UN Security Council resolutions, international law and the 4th Geneva Convention with this decision, he said Pakistan considered the act “unilateral and illegal.”
Highlighting that the removed article 35A is related to the protection of the demographic structure in the region, he said, “We feel there is a design for demographic restructuring to convert this Muslim state, the only Muslim state in India, into a minority.”
