Pakistan’s soil not being used against Afghanistan: Fawad

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry on Monday said Pakistan’s soil was not being used against Afghanistan and Islamabad expected reciprocation from the war-battered country.

In a series of tweets, the minister said that “our land is not being used against Afghanistan”, expressing hope that “Afghanistan’s territory, too, won’t be used” to carry out terrorist activities against Pakistan.

وزیر اعظم عمران خان کہ چکے ہیں کہ امن میں حصہ دار ہوں گے لیکن جنگ میں نہیں، پاکستان کی زمین افغانستان کے خلاف استعمال نہیں ہو رہی اور امید ہے کہ افغانستان کی سرزمین پاکستان کے خلاف استعمال نہیں ہوگی، سیاسی پارلیمانی قیادت عدم مداخلت کے اصول پر متفق ہے

— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) July 12, 2021

He said that the Afghanistan policy of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government was in “Pakistan’s interest”.

Pakistan, he said, had a keen eye on the developing environment in Afghanistan and added that if Afganistan descended into a civil war, the government would not let the fallout affect Pakistan.

افغانستان میں بدلتی صورتحال پر گہری نظر ہے، پوری کوشش ہے کابل میں ایک پر امن اور سب کی رائے پر مبنی نظام حکومت کے ذریعے آگے بڑھا جائے لیکن اگر ایسا نہ ہوا تو بھی ہاکستان کے اندر اس کے اثرات نہیں آنے دیں گے، ہماری افغان پالیسی پاکستان کے مفاد پر ہے

— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) July 12, 2021

Fawad underscored that Pakistan wanted a consensus-based government in Kabul. “We are keenly observing the changing situation in Afghanistan,” he said.

“Efforts are afoot to move forward through a peaceful and consensus-based government in Afghanistan,” he disclosed.

The political leadership of Pakistan had reached a consensus on the principle of non-interference in any country, he said.

Fawad further recalled that Prime Minister Imran Khan had already clarified that Pakistan could be partners with the United States in peace, but not in conflict.

His statements come days after Taliban officials said the insurgent group had taken control of 85 percent of the territory in Afghanistan.

Afghan government officials dismissed the assertion that the Taliban controlled most of the country as part of a propaganda campaign launched as foreign forces, including the United States, withdraw after almost 20 years of fighting.

But local Afghan officials said Taliban fighters, emboldened by the withdrawal, had captured an important district in Herat province, home to tens of thousands of minority Shi’ite Hazaras, last week and surrounded the city of Ghazni in central Afghanistan on Monday.

Hundreds of Afghan security personnel and refugees continued to flee across the border into neighbouring Iran and Tajikistan, causing concern in Moscow and other foreign capitals that the militants could infiltrate Central Asia.

HUMANITARIAN CONCERNS:

As fighting continued, a World Health Organisation official said health workers were struggling to get medicines and supplies into Afghanistan, and that some staff had fled after facilities came under attack.

The regional emergencies director of WHO, Rick Brennan, said at least 18.4 million people require humanitarian assistance, including 3.1 million children at risk of acute malnutrition.

“We are concerned about our lack of access to be able to provide essential medicines and supplies and we are concerned about attacks on health care,” Brennan, speaking via videolink from Cairo, told a UN briefing in Geneva last week.

Some aid will arrive by next week including 3.5 million Covid-19 vaccine doses and oxygen concentrators, he said. They included doses of Johnson & Johnson’s shot donated by the United States and AstraZeneca doses through the COVAX facility.

A US donation of more than 1.4 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine arrived on Friday, the UN children’s agency UNICEF said.

Reuters contributed to this report.