ISLAMABAD, Oct 28 (APP): Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that the sudden withdrawal of the US troops from Afghanistan and the “capitulation” of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and other top officials were the main reasons behind the chaotic situation in the war-torn country.
“Pakistan advocated consistently withdrawal [of American forces] but [told them to] do it in an orderly fashion. And that would help stabilize things in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, the way Ashraf Ghani and his entire team capitulated and left, that created such uncertainty that elements like such could take advantage of; you saw what happened at the airport where innocent lives were affected, so, that sudden withdrawal contributed to the confusion,” Qureshi said in an exclusive interview with Press TV on Wednesday.
He said terrorism was one of the main challenges currently facing Afghanistan and that Pakistan did not want to see Daesh footprint expanding in the region for which a coordinated approach was needed to address the problem.
“One of the challenges is terrorism, international terrorist organizations, and Daesh is one of them, we do not want their footprint to increase in Afghanistan or in the region; so, what we need is a collected unified coordinated approach to deal with such elements and entities,” Qureshi said according to Press TV’s website.
Qureshi, who was visiting Iran to attend a meeting dealing with Afghanistan, also said Pakistan had not agreed to allow the US to use its airspace for intelligence and military operations in Afghanistan.
Regarding reports that US was nearing a formal agreement with Pakistan to use its airspace to conduct military intelligence operations in Afghanistan, Qureshi said, “There was a report, we looked at it and we denied it. There is no such understanding. Yes, we’ve been cooperating with each other on region security, on counterterrorism … [and] that’s been going on for years, but there is no such understanding.”
Regarding Iran, the foreign minister said Tehran and Islamabad had recently increased their cooperation to stop terrorist attacks near their joint borders.
Qureshi highlighted the importance of Islamabad’s recent agreement on counterterrorism cooperation with Tehran, saying the two sides have adopted a joint strategy to deal with terrorist attacks.
He said that border violence had significantly declined in recent years as the two neighbors wanted to see a stable and peaceful region, and were looking to expand their economic cooperation.
Referring to security incidents along the common border between Iran and Pakistan, Qureshi said, “[There are] spoilers in Afghanistan and beyond, who do not want to see stability in the region … and they do not want to see stability in Afghanistan. So they always try to create misunderstandings, but fortunately … in the last three years since our government came into office, our bilateral relations with Iran have improved considerably.”
“We have a mechanism in place now, we have structures in place through which we can coordinate, share intelligence and adopt a joint strategy to deal with such incidents. And fortunately, they have gone down considerably,” Qureshi said.
Qureshi said that Pakistan had taken a number of steps like the border fencing which would further ensure better border management. “Hopefully by the end of this year, 2021, we will have fenced our border with Iran … the whole border, and that will make a huge difference,” he added.
