ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi detailed his findings after holding dialogues with regional leadership surrounding Afghanistan, saying that peace and stability in neigbouring country would benefit the entire region.
The foreign minister, who recently concluded a four-nation tour of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Iran, asserted that Afghanistan’s neighbours were “fully aware” of the situation and their approach towards the issue “was realistic”.
The minister cautioned that worsening situation in Afghanistan would affect them all, adding that Taliban leadership had been in contact with all. “The people of Afghanistan have been dealing with wars for decades and want peace. They are suffering for the mistakes made in the past,” he added.
“If there is a positive message coming from Afghanistan, it should be encouraged”, FM Qureshi asserted, adding that isolating Afghanistan would be detrimental to all. He further said the world was “expressing confidence” in Pakistan, adding that the country’s role as a mediator in Afghanistan had also been praised.
“Pakistan is helping evacuate the diplomatic staff of several countries from Afghanistan,” he said, adding, “Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has played an important role in this regard.”
Commenting on neighbouring India, he said that it was at the top of the list of “spoilers” in the region. “India was carrying out negative activities to harm Pakistan and was bent upon destroying peace in the region,” he added.
The foreign minister denied that the border with Afghanistan had been closed, adding that only “border management measures” have been taken.
About his telephonic conversation with the British counterpart, he said that they had discussed Afghanistan, besides, he urged the UK government to review the red listing issue.
