ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari assured the interim Taliban administration in Kabul of his country’s commitment to the peace and stability of their country in a phone call held on Saturday.
Bhutto-Zardari spoke to his counterpart, the acting Afghan minister for foreign affairs, Amir Khan Muttaqi, and discussed a wide spectrum of issues.
Pakistan has tried to convince the international community to constructively engage the new rulers of Afghanistan while also making an effort to persuade officials in Kabul to respect the rights of Afghan citizens.
“Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari held a telephone conversation with Acting Afghan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Amir Khan Muttaqi, today,” said the foreign office in a brief statement. “They discussed a range of issues of mutual interest. The Foreign Minister reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to a stable, peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan.”
The phone call was held only days after several regional countries shared Pakistan’s concern over militant presence in Afghanistan during a ministerial conference in Samarkand.
The participants of the gathering maintained that “terrorism-related security situation in Afghanistan was still severe” and promised to enhance cooperation among themselves to “develop a united front against terrorism.”
They also named several militant entities, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and Baloch Liberation Army, while pointing out that their continued presence in Afghanistan posed “a serious threat to regional and global security.”
Pakistan, which has witnessed a surge in militant attacks since last November, has already taken up the issue with the Taliban administration in Afghanistan, asking its leaders not to allow their soil to be used by these groups against other countries.
Pakistan’s defense minister Khawaja Asif recently warned the Afghan Taliban that his country would even strike at militant hideouts in the neighboring state if the administration in Kabul was not able to deal with anti-Pakistan elements within its borders.
Bhutto-Zardari’s conversation with the acting Afghan foreign minister also took place when Pakistan’s military has pledged to continue with intelligence-based operations against militant groups operating in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan that share a porous border with Afghanistan.
