National Security Adviser Moeed Yusuf expressed concern over the worsening situation in Afghanistan on Friday, terming it “extremely bad and out of Pakistan’s control”.
Briefing the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, he warned of an impending risk of an attack by Tehreek-i-Taliban, who, he said, could enter Pakistan disguised as refugees.
He, however, denied the presence of the Taliban in Pakistan as of now, terming the reports “Indian propaganda”.
“India is financially facilitating the propaganda and agencies have even made arrests during this regard.”
Yusuf said Pakistan was very concerned about the changing situation following the US drawdown and would be adversely suffering from the growing violence and war in Afghanistan.
“The region’s peace is conditional on peace in Afghanistan,” he added.
Yusuf further said that the Afghan government needed to figure on improving relations with Pakistan if it wanted peace within the country.
“[Also], i do not see the US offering a financial package to Afghanistan and therein case, only Pakistan can provide a trade route to the landlocked country,” he said.
The national security adviser stressed that the UN Refugee Agency needed to line up camps for Afghan refugees.
‘Power sharing to avoid civil war’
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi also briefed the committee, saying that Pakistan intended to suggest power sharing in Afghanistan to avoid war .
He added that just in case of a war in Afghanistan, Pakistan wouldn’t be ready to handle the influx of refugees. He further stated that Pakistan wanted 300,000 refugees within the country to return to their own countries.
He also affirmed that he wouldn’t be “apologetic” during a crucial conference on Afghanistan he was thanks to attend in Uzbekistan within the coming days.
Qureshi said Pakistan wasn’t the sole stakeholder in Afghanistan and would firmly present its stance within the conference.
“The situation in Afghanistan is worsening and holding Pakistan liable for the [worsening] situation wasn’t fair,” he said.
The secretary of state said Taliban had objections over Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s participation in negotiations, adding that they were “intelligent and had grown wise” over time. He added that Taliban had changed after Doha talks.
The minister said Afghanistan lacked the resources to make sure its security and Pakistan would need to steel oneself against handling the changing situation within the war-torn country as India wanted to sabotage the social process there.
He added that India neither wanted stability in Afghanistan nor in Pakistan.
“And we’ve informed America, European nations et al. about this,” he said.
The minister also said that another briefing to lawmakers on national security by the military leadership would be organised before Eidul Azha. An earlier briefing on the difficulty had taken place on Dominion Day .
‘Pakistan not isolated’
Qureshi said the impression that Pakistan had been isolated was wrong and US State Department spokesperson Ned Price’s statement of the previous day was a testament thereto .
“US State Department has termed Pakistan a ‘helpful and constructive partner’,” said Qureshi, quoting Price, and added this was coming from the US that when wont to “point fingers” at Pakistan.
He further quoted Price as saying that the US and Pakistan had shared interests in peace and stability in Afghanistan which the shared interest of both the countries went beyond Afghanistan.
The minister added that while the US had set a deadline of August 31 for coitus interruptus all its troops from Afghanistan, it had been willing to still add the region and with Pakistan on broader counter-terrorism initiatives.
He went on to mention that he was witnessing an “interesting change”, with international bodies now conceding that a military solution wasn’t possible in Afghanistan.
“But when [Prime Minister] Imran Khan said an equivalent , he was labelled Taliban Khan,” the secretary of state recalled.
He said the planet acknowledging that a military solution in Afghanistan wasn’t a viable option and agreeing that an answer to the Afghan problem was only possible through peacebuilding and rapprochement was the “success of Pakistan’s perspective”.
On the matter of the US drawdown, the minister said America needed to tug out its troops from Afghanistan in an orderly manner so on make sure that there was no security vacuum left to be filled by “negative” elements within the war-torn country.
He added that the people of Afghanistan should decide their future.
“This is Pakistan’s stance and in it lies Pakistan’s best interest,” he said.
The minister said the US had expressed willingness to figure towards an answer through rapprochement, which he said was also Pakistan’s stance.
“I am expecting a call from the US state secretary and that i will inform him about Pakistan’s stance,” he added.
He warned that just in case things in “Afghanistan goes back to what it had been within the 1990s”, Pakistan would need to affect a refugee influx.
In this regard, he said, Pakistan would be monitoring illegal border crossing and was also fencing its borders.
“We need to manage things during a better manner to regulate terrorism,” the minister remarked.
Qureshi added that he, the prime minister and security officials had had meetings with the Uzbeks, Tajiks and Hazaras so on make it clear to them that “there is not any favourite in Afghanistan”.
“We want to play the role of an honest neighbour and aren’t brooding about strategic depth [in Afghanistan],” he said. “Our policy on Afghanistan is obvious . we would like peace and stability within the country and not repeat our mistakes.”
Qureshi also acknowledged that US saw strategic rivalry with China as a challenge and Pakistan had a task to play during this regard.
Earlier within the session, PPP Senator Sherry Rehman said there have been concerns over things in Afghanistan and therefore the worsening scenario within the neighbouring country posed “major threats” to Pakistan.
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