Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said on Monday that Prime Minister Imran Khan had laid emphasis on an inclusive government in Afghanistan at a meeting with the now exiled Afghan President Ashraf Ghani before the Taliban takeover of Kabul.
Had elections been delayed in Afghanistan in line with Prime Minister Imran Khan’s proposal, and an inclusive government put in place, the situation in the war-torn country would have been completely different today, he said.
“We firmly believe that stability in Afghanistan can come only by bringing all ethnic groups on board as Afghanistan is a hugely ethnically divided country. We are in touch with the regional powers and the US as well as UK,” he said.
“We have lost 80,000 people and billions of dollars in economy because of the Afghan war. The reason Pakistan is conveniently blamed for others’ mistakes is that the powers behind the conflict in Afghanistan did not heed Pakistan’s advice. Pakistan’s advice was overlooked. We have paid the price for this conflict,” he said.
He says the dream of building a rail track between Karachi & Tashkent and the start of truck service from Pakistan to Central Asia can only be materialised with peace and stability in Afghanistan@fawadchaudhry @MoIB_Official https://t.co/7P3sPdlbdq
— Radio Pakistan (@RadioPakistan) August 23, 2021
As far as the future of Afghanistan is concerned, Fawad said, “We have to work together with the regional and international players for an inclusive government. We don’t have a controlled influence over the Taliban, but we brought the Taliban to the dialogue table with the United States.”
He said, “We are capable of taking on the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). We had a problem with the previous Afghan government because India was using the Afghan soil to fund the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Fawad also said, “We welcome Taliban’s statement that their land will not to be used against any country. They have shown the world that Afghanistan will not become a safe haven for international terrorist organisations. If instability continues in Afghanistan, hundreds of people will migrate to Pakistan. That’s one of the reasons we are trying our best to avert any instability in Afghanistan.”
