ISLAMABAD, March 28: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Monday said Afghanistan must not be seen through a regional prism, but as a “shared and collective responsibility”.
“Instability in Afghanistan will have negative consequences for the entire world,” he said in his address at a seminar on ‘Perspectives on the evolving situation in Afghanistan’ organized by the Centre for Afghanistan, Middle East & Africa (CAMEA) of the Institute of Strategic Studies.
The day-long seminar held in collaboration with Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) focused on the situation in Afghanistan, particularly in the perspective of the humanitarian crisis.
FM Qureshi said the emergence of new conflicts did not mean that the world can afford to forget old ones, adding that the wounds of 40 years of war and bloodshed in Afghanistan would take a long time to heal.
“Failure is not an option. If the world community fails Afghanistan yet again, it will result in a fresh influx of refugees, enhanced space for terrorism, and a rise in drug trafficking,” he said.
He hoped that with the help of regional countries and international partners, the proud Afghan nation could once again rise to become an important country in terms of regional peace and stability, economic trade, and regional connectivity.
The foreign minister said since August 15, 2021, the interim Afghan government remained embattled with the humanitarian and economic crises, as well as a liquidity crunch, exacerbated by the lack of a functional banking system.
He mentioned at the same time the positive aspects mainly internal stability, no civil war, the opening of girls’ schools, and the interim government’s commitment to addressing terrorism.
He said Afghanistan currently stood at a critical crossroads as for the first time in over 40 years, there was a single unified dispensation over its entire territory.
The foreign minister said over four decades of war and bloodshed were over and there had been a demonstrable decrease in corruption, leading to an increase in revenue. He said there was a hope that Afghanistan had the potential to move towards a viable and sustainable future.
“Therefore, the immediate task that the international community, in general, and regional countries, in particular, need to focus on, is the stabilization of the country,” he said.
Qureshi said Pakistan had always advocated consistent engagement with Afghanistan and stressed the importance of delinking humanitarian assistance from political considerations. -NNI
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