ISLAMABAD: More than 50 members of the Senate and National Assembly standing committees will receive a briefing from the top military leadership on the developing situation in Afghanistan on Monday at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi.
In addition, the parliamentarians, both from the treasury and the opposition benches, will also be briefed on the situation in Indian-occupied Kashmir, it was learnt.
After two decades of direct intervention and spending a total of $2.26 trillion, Washington has decided that the future of Afghanistan is for its people to decide, confirming it is committed to withdrawing its troops by the August 31 deadline.
The attendants would be briefed by the director general military operations, Maj Gen Nauman Zakaria, on the evolving situation in Afghanistan and Kashmir and the policy adopted by Pakistan to address the developments.
The committees attending the meeting include the Senate standing committee on defence headed by Mushahid Hussain of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, National Assembly standing committee on defence headed by Amjad Ali Khan of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and the parliamentary body on Kashmir led by Shaheryar Afridi of the ruling party.
The briefing was scheduled at the request of the bodies that sought to get an insight into the matters in the wake of the withdrawal of the foreign troops from the neighbouring countries.
The members are directed to reach the venue by 9:30 am where the defence and foreign affairs and national security secretaries will brief the MPs. The session is expected to be followed by a two-hour-long meeting with the army chief, Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa.
In a similar briefing in July, the military and intelligence leadership called for avoiding divisive politics on issues of national interest, cautioning that strategic challenges and related policy shifts in external relations could have repercussions for the country.
During that meeting, the participants were told that external forces had already started exerting pressure on Pakistan in the wake of the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan.
It was said that Pakistan was not only kept on the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force despite implementing 26 of the 27 points of the action plan agreed with the illicit financing watchdog, but the goal post had also been changed. Islamabad has now been told to additionally implement a separate six-point action plan given by the Asia Pacific Group, a regional affiliate of the body.
Last Friday, Gen Bajwa conveyed to the American charge d’ Affairs in Islamabad, Angela Ageler, that Pakistan had no favourites in Afghanistan and its sole aim was to help achieve a peaceful and stable neighbour.
He also condemned the attack at Kabul airport and expressed grief over the loss of life.
