ISLAMABAD: National Security Adviser (NSA) Dr Moeed Yusuf has asked the western world to learn lessons from the past and support Afghans for bringing long-lasting peace and stability in the war-ravaged country.
Dr Mooed Yusuf apprised foreign media correspondents about Pakistan’s perspective on Afghanistan and the danger posed by the regional spoilers. He also briefed about Pakistan’s efforts in the evacuation of foreign personnel and its willingness to create an air bridge for humanitarian assistance to Afghans.
He said it would be a blunder if the international community abandoned Afghanistan as it did in the past. “It may be popular to talk about ‘wait and see’, but wait and see essentially means a collapse,” the NSA said. “This would result in refugee and security crises that will not remain confined to the region,” he added.
“Humanitarian assistance is a stop-gap arrangement to ensure there is no immediate humanitarian crisis, that does not equate to governance, institutional and economic support which is needed by any country to survive in the conditions that you find in Afghanistan.”
Yusuf reiterated that Pakistan could not host any more Afghan refugees for several reasons, including financial constraints. “Pakistan is in no condition right now to accept any more refugees,” he said, noting that Pakistan was already hosting more than three million Afghan refugees who had fled the war and violence in their country over the past decades.
He added that Washington should take note and listen to Islamabad’s advice on engaging with the new Taliban government. “If there has to be a reassessment, the reassessment has to conclude that what Pakistan was saying made sense. So now what Pakistan is saying we should give a fair hearing,” he said.
He said Pakistan would try to do whatever was possible to help Afghans, but that international efforts should step up to prevent a humanitarian crisis. He asked the world community not to repeat the past mistake of abandoning Afghanistan.
He also warned that the Islamic State group and other militants including the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) could exploit such a situation. “If Afghanistan destabilises, the spillover effect comes to Pakistan,” he emphasised.
Exposing India’s role as a spoiler, he said India was in hyper-drive making fictitious stories against Pakistan. The NSA talked about the latest and detailed dossier of Pakistan released earlier this week to highlight India’s human rights violations in IIOJK.
Dr Moeed said India had befooled the US by realising Pakistan as troublesome in Afghanistan but on the contrary, the then Afghan government was itself the cause of the disaster and Afghan national security forces did not opt to fight for a corrupt regime. “The world could no longer close its eyes to Modi government’s agenda if it truly cared for stability in a nuclear region,” he said.
He reiterated Pakistan’s resolve to have a peaceful and stable Afghanistan. He urged the world to engage with Taliban to give peace a chance in Afghanistan after the passage of four decades.
“Pakistan has a right to ensure its national security and will do so by engaging with the Taliban,” he added. He also called for an international investigation for using chemical weapons by Indian forces in IIOJK.
