The Foreign Office said on Friday that Pakistan maintained a “channel of communication” with Afghanistan despite “concerns” in the bilateral relationship between the two neighboring countries.
“Pakistan’s foreign policy is consistent in that we want to have friendly relations with our neighbor Afghanistan,” FO spokesperson Mumtaz Zahrah Baloch told reporters at a weekly briefing in Islamabad.
“Pakistan has done everything in its power to maintain positive relations with Afghanistan and in that context we have remained with it on all issues of concern,” she said.
“Despite our apprehensions and our grave concerns, Pakistan has maintained a communication channel with Afghanistan,” she added amid ongoing tensions between the two countries.
The two neighboring countries have been at loggerheads over the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the relationship further deteriorated after Islamabad decided to deport all Afghans residing illegally in the country.
A number of Afghan Taliban leaders have issued strong statements in recent weeks criticizing Pakistan’s deportation policy.
At the same time, the Afghan Taliban government rejected Pakistan’s claim that it was harboring the TTP.
Earlier this week, in an unusual move, interim Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar gave a press conference and essentially issued an indictment of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
The caretaker prime minister said that despite repeated demands, the Afghan Taliban had failed to take control of the TTP. He added that since the return of the Afghan Taliban to power in the neighboring country, there has been a 60% increase in terrorist attacks, while the number of suicide attacks has increased by a staggering 500%.
Kakar said he was forced to hold a press conference as Afghan Taliban leaders continued to level accusations against Pakistan.
Relations between the two countries deteriorated to the extent that Pakistan decided not to provide any support to the Afghan Taliban regime in international forums.
The FO spokesperson, when asked about deteriorating relations, did not directly comment on the apparent shift in Pakistan’s policy, but listed problems in the relationship.
“Obviously there is a challenge that we face and that challenge is that Afghan territory is being used by terrorist entities against Pakistan,” Baloch said.
“So our foreign policy is a reflection of our security concerns … and we have expressed them very clearly to the Afghan authorities.” [We have asked them to take immediate and effective action against these terrorist entities,” she added.
She defended the interim prime minister’s press conference, saying that his statement was neither new nor extraordinary.
“The [interim] prime minister said what [Islamabad] has been saying all along, that we are concerned that Afghan territory is being used by terrorist forces against Pakistan… We have asked Afghanistan several times to contain these terrorist groups and take action against them. ” she continued.
The FO spokesman said that the Afghan government is fully aware of Pakistan’s deep concern over the hideouts and sanctuaries of terrorist groups that threaten the country.
“[Afghan Taliban] has made certain commitments to [Islamabad] and the international community that Afghan soil will not be used against Pakistan… We expect Afghanistan to fulfill this commitment and take effective measures against these terrorist entities,” Baloch added.
During the briefing, the FO spokesman also addressed the issue of “heinous crimes” committed by Israel against the Palestinian people.
Baloch said that as a “tragedy of epic proportions” unfolded in Gaza, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) must act to fulfill its responsibility to maintain peace and called for an urgent and unconditional ceasefire, the lifting of the siege and the launch of a swift, unimpeded humanitarian Help.
She said Israeli forces are committing crimes against humanity with impunity.
The FO spokesman criticized Israel’s indiscriminate massacre of innocent civilians in Gaza and deliberate attempts to deprive them of food, water, shelter and medical care.
“As an occupying power, Israel must fulfill its obligations under the 4th Geneva Convention and end its bloodshed in Gaza,” she continued.
Baloch said supporters of Israel must be prevailed upon to abandon their plans for settler colonialism, forced displacement and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.
The FO spokesman said the caretaker prime minister would attend an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Council (OIC) scheduled for November 11 in the Saudi capital Riyadh, convened in response to the unprecedented Israeli attacks on Gaza.
Talking about the long-standing issue of India’s illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), Baloch said Pakistan will continue to extend its political, diplomatic and moral support to its brothers and sisters there.
She added that Pakistan will continue its efforts for a just and peaceful settlement of the IIOJK dispute in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions.
