ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Monday the world community increasingly viewed Pakistan as part of the solution, not the problem, in Afghanistan as the war-torn country makes a final push for a political deal between the Kabul government and Taliban insurgents ahead of United States’ plans to pull out all of its troops by September 11.

Violence has sharply increased across Afghanistan since the United States announced the withdrawal plans.

Addressing the inaugural session of a conference titled “Pakistan-Afghanistan Bilateral Dialogue” and organized by the Regional Peace Institute (RPI) in Islamabad, Qureshi said that during a recent emergency session of the General Assembly in New York, “I contacted many members of the US Congress — their attitude was different than before.”

“Senator Lindsey Graham said that today we [United States] do not see Pakistan as part of the problem but part of the solution — it is a complete paradigm shift,” the foreign minister said 

Referring to a speech at the event by the Afghan ambassador to Pakistan, Qureshi said: 

“In his address, the Ambassador of Afghanistan appreciated the conciliatory role of Pakistan, and I am grateful to him. We fully agree with them that violence and reconciliation cannot go hand in hand. Violence must be stopped to bring peace.”

Pakistan’s role in the Afghan peace negotiations is a delicate one, with Islamabad seeking to avoid demonstrating the kind of broad influence over the Taliban that Washington has long accused it of having. But the US and Afghanistan have continued to look upon Pakistan to urge insurgents to give up violence and agree to a cease-fire.

Islamabad has also long denied US and Afghan charges that it provides safe haven and assistance to insurgents as a way to preserve influence in neighboring Afghanistan throughout its more than 19-year-old war.

“Blaming is very easy but it does not benefit either party,” Qureshi said. “Whenever I met and talked with [Afghan] Foreign Minister Hanif Atmar, I found him to be very serious and settled. Now is the time to move on. To me, the biggest obstacle to peace is mistrust. We have to move beyond the past.”

Pakistan now had “geo-economic” priorities, the foreign minister said, and understood that economic stability was not possible without peace in the region.

Listing Pakistan’s economic interests in peace in Afghanistan, the FM said:

“We want to move mutual issues forward through APAPPS [Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity] … We want to improve our economy by promoting trade and investment … Peace in Afghanistan will enable Pakistan to benefit from projects such as regional connectivity, CASA 1000 [Central Asia-South Asia power project], TAPI [Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India] pipeline.”