Pakistan’s soil will not be used against any country: Sartaj

ISLAMABAD (Web Desk) – PM Advisor on Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz, has said that Pakistan had some influence on Afghan Taliban but it had no control over them.

This was stated by PM Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz and the visiting Secretary of Supreme National Security Council of Iran Ali Shamkhani at their joint news conference in Islamabad on Wednesday evening.

Aziz said the international community has concerns about the Afghan issue and no world power wants war in Afghanistan.

He said the Afghan government has not yet approached Pakistan regarding contacts with Taliban.

“It was up to the Afghan government to resume talks with Taliban and our job is just of a facilitator,” he added.

Sartaz Aziz said Pakistan’s stance is very much clear that its soil would not be used against any country.

He said that both the United States and Pakistan fully supported the Afghan reconciliation process and the two countries want resumption of talks between the Afghan government and Taliban.

The remarks by Sartaj Aziz came a week after a meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and United States (US) President Barack Obama in Washington.

Obama thanked Nawaz Sharif for Pakistan s role in negotiations and stressed that the U.S. believed an "Afghan-led" reconciliation process is "the only way to bring lasting stability and peace to Afghanistan and the region," according to a White House statement released after the meeting.

In July this year, Pakistan hosted a landmark set of preliminary meetings between Afghan officials and the Taliban but a second round of scheduled talks was postponed after the Afghan government revealed that Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar had died in a hospital two years ago.


Sartaj Aziz said in view of security scenario, the two countries have agreed to work together through closer coordination on controlling existing terrorist threats.

The Iranian official the two sides discussed a number of proposals to strengthen cooperation in different fields including defence, energy and communication.