ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has conveyed its serious concerns to the Afghan side by making a strong demarche with the ambassador of Afghanistan in Islamabad on the recent irresponsible statements and baseless allegations made by the Afghan leadership.
In a statement, Foreign Office (FO) Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said that the Afghan side has been urged to effectively utilize the available forums like Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity to address all bilateral issues.
The spokesperson emphasised that groundless accusations erode trust and vitiate the environment between the two brotherly countries and disregard the constructive role being played by Pakistan in facilitating the Afghan peace process.
“The Afghan side has been urged to effectively utilise available forums, like the Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity, to address all bilateral issues,” the FO spokesperson added.
The FO statement comes days after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani — in an interview with a German publication — claimed that Pakistan “operated an organised system of support” for the Taliban, adding that the Taliban “receive logistics there, their finances are there and recruitment is there”.
“The names of the various decision-making bodies of the Taliban are Quetta Shura, Miramshah Shura and Peshawar Shura — named after the Pakistani cities where they are located. There is a deep relationship with the state,” Ghani told the German weekly news magazine.
When asked about the peace process, Ghani said that it was a “crucial moment of rethinking”, adding that the US only played a minor role in the peace process now, adding that the “question of peace or hostility is now in Pakistani hands.”
He informed that Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa had assured him that the restoration of the Emirate or dictatorship by the Taliban was not in anybody’s interest in the region, especially Pakistan.
“However, he said, some of the lower levels in the army still hold the opposite opinion in certain cases. It is primarily a question of political will,” Ghani added.
