Islamabad: “Pakistan desires peace and stability in Afghanistan,” said Ambassador Asif Durrani, Pakistan’s Special Representative to Afghanistan. He was speaking at a roundtable discussion on “Pak-Afghan Relations: Challenges and Opportunities” at the Institute of Regional Studies (IRS) here on Tuesday.
Ambassador Durrani stated that Pakistan desires socioeconomic and political conditions in Afghanistan that would facilitate the return of over 3 million Afghan refugees currently residing in Pakistan. He urged the international community, especially the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to come up with strategies for dignified return of Afghan refugees to their homeland. He maintained that terrorism emanating out of Afghanistan was a concern not only for Pakistan but other neighbouring countries like China, Iran, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan as well. Therefore, he urged, the Afghan interim administration to take steps against terrorist groups. Ambassador Durrani shared that Afghan interim administration’s efforts for poppy eradication were acknowledged by the concerned stakeholders at the UN Doha meeting that concluded earlier this month.
The Special Representative called for removing obstacles to trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan as well as transit of Pakistani goods through Afghanistan to Central Asia. He also urged called for expediting regional connectivity projects like the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project and the CASA-1000 power transmission line from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Ambassador Durrani urged the Government of Pakistan to continue its crackdown against smuggling from Afghanistan.
Speaking on the occasion, Pakistan’s former ambassador to Afghanistan Ambassador Abrar Hussain, highlighted the importance of border management in the relations between the two countries. He appreciated people-to-people as well as diplomatic contacts between Afghanistan and Pakistan at the highest levels. He also urged regional countries to assist the Afghan interim government in addressing its capacity issues with regard to dealing with terrorism emanating out of Afghanistan.
In his concluding remarks, President IRS, Ambassador Jauhar Saleem, highlighted the multiple commonalities and linkages between Pakistan and Afghanistan, besides the economic interdependence. He termed terrorism as the major source of friction between the two neighbouring countries and called upon the Afghan interim administration to honour its commitments with regard to not allowing its soil to be used for terrorism against any other country underscoring that supporting counter terrorism would be in the interest of Afghanistan itself.
