LANDI KOTAL: Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed on Sunday said that Pakistan has nothing to do with the politics in Afghanistan and India’s discomfort over the Inter-Services Intelligence director general’s Kabul visit is obvious.
Sheikh Rasheed said this in an interview on Sunday and also talking to the newsmen during his visit to Landi Kotal.
The interior minister said the Indian media has been beating a dead horse as far as the ISI DG’s visit to Afghanistan was concerned. “Why India is feeling pain over this visit?” he asked.
He said the faces of Indians were grim and off-colour when they were evacuated from Afghanistan. “Why, because India had suffered a humiliating defeat in Afghanistan,” he maintained.
“Indian media’s hue and cry over General Faiz Hameed’s visit is unnecessary as people from the US, the UK and other countries had also visited Kabul,” the minister reminded New Delhi.
Sheikh Rasheed, as usual, predicted that it is possible that a new bloc of countries may emerge in the world. “This region is going to change. Afghanistan’s stability is out stability,” he further said.
“The evacuation of foreigners from Afghanistan is not our job. It’s up to the Taliban and Kabul,” he said, adding “Formation of government is Taliban’s job as Pakistan has nothing to do with the politics in Afghanistan.”
The minister Prime Minister Imran Khan will decide when to recognize the Taliban government. “We are with the international community and everyone is watching what’s happening in Afghanistan. We want to side with the world as well as want to help in establishing a peaceful and stable Afghanistan,” he elaborated.
He said about 10,000 foreigners had evacuated from Afghanistan to Pakistan and then they left for their respective countries from the airports. “They did not enter Pakistan,” he added.
He further said foreigners who have complete documents can enter Pakistan from Afghanistan, and Islamabad will help in their evacuation.
The interior minister made it clear that no Afghan refugee came to Pakistan.
Sheikh Rasheed also declared Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar as the most intelligent politician of Pakistan.
Responding to a question, Sheikh Rasheed averred he neither has the thinking nor a desire to become a chief minister of Punjab. “I only can work in a ministry,” he added.
During his visit to Landi Kotal, Sheikh Rasheed also visited the Meechni checkpoint near the Afghan border.
Earlier on Saturday, ISI DG Lt Gen Faiz Hameed had arrived in Kabul to meet the Taliban representatives and discuss matters related to the safe evacuation of foreign nationals, border management and security in the region, Geo News reported.
The intelligence chief spent a day in the Afghan capital, sources had said, adding he was meeting and working with Pakistan’s Ambassador Mansoor Ahmed Khan and his team on issues of repatriation and transit through Pakistan and the situation on the border.
Since the Taliban came into power last month, thousands of foreign nationals have been evacuated from the war-ravaged country with Pakistan’s help. The Pakistani embassy in Kabul had been working 24/7 to assist in the evacuation efforts.
