ISLAMABAD: National Security Adviser (NSA) Dr Moeed Yusuf said the Afghan political leaders should focus on a political settlement of the Afghanistan issue, rather than trying their hands at Twitter trends.
In an interview with CNN hosted by Becky Anderson, Moeed Yusuf presented a detailed overview of Pakistan’s efforts for Afghan peace process and political settlement of the longstanding conflict for past many decades.
Dr Mooed Yusuf said Pakistanis deserve peace as they had lost 85,000 innocent lives and over $150 billion economic losses in the war against terror.
“Pakistanis feel ashamed when they are asked to do more despite doing all they could do for the Afghans. Prime Minister Imran Khan was the only leader who said for the past 15 years, there was no armed solution to Afghan conflict rather political resolution will restore peace in the war-torn region.”
He said Afghan people, their government, Taliban and other political actors had to decide their fate whereas no sincere effort was done for political resolution of the crisis by the Afghan leadership.
He said Afghans needed public assurance for US involvement in the political solution of the issue to see through it whereas the policymakers in Pakistan only believed in peace, adding that “Pakistan will remain a partner in peace and not in conflict”.
He insisted there was no better time to reinforce the Afghan settlement of their issue at the moment. “Pakistan has been repeatedly got affected due to terrorism orchestrated from Afghan soil due to the nexus of our hostile eastern neighbour India,” he mentioned.
Presented Pakistan’s view on the emerging situation in #Afghanistan on @BeckyCNN; reaffirming that sustainable peace can only come through an inclusive, Afghan-led and Afghan-owned political settlement. pic.twitter.com/CpkER0Bnc6
— Moeed W. Yusuf (@YusufMoeed) August 13, 2021
He said Prime Minister Imran Khan always asked the US forces to go for a political settlement unless there was a solution, as political resolution was only possible if US took the lead. We must ensure that Afghans did not leave their country, he added.
To a query on the trending Twitter campaign against Pakistan, Dr Moeed responded, “I have held a press conference recently on #SanctionPakistan and other propaganda campaigns being run against Pakistan. According to analytical report which showed 65% were bot activity and the rest was through Indian and Afghan official accounts which perpetrated the hashtag campaign.”
Replying to another query on Pakistani double standards on the issue and sanctuaries of Taliban, the NSA told there was no double game in any such case there would have been a takeover in eastern Afghanistan by the Taliban.
“There are no safe havens of Taliban and why would Pakistan fence its border completely which is around 2,600km long that has always been porous with 20,000 people crossing every day,” he underscored.
“In settlement of millions of Afghan refugees, there were certain unwanted elements in Pakistan and we have repeatedly asked the world for a dignified repatriation of Afghan refugees but no response was made by the world,” he regretted.
He underlined there was enough scapegoating by the global powers and they should stop blaming the victims (Pakistanis), adding, “We do not have the capacity to entertain more refugees and such situation should be avoided leading to massive refugee outflow from Afghanistan impacting Pakistan.”
