PESHAWAR: The National Security Adviser (NSA) Dr Moeed Yusuf on Tuesday announced not to attend the NSA-level conference on Afghanistan in India, saying that “India is not interested in peace but working to sabotage peace efforts in the region.”
Moeed Yusuf added that like the West, Pakistan does not have the luxury of distancing itself from Afghanistan. He urged that global community to cooperate with the Taliban-led Afghanistan to avoid the lingering humanitarian crisis. He was addressing a press conference on Tuesday where Pakistan and Uzbekistan signed a protocol for setting up a joint security commission. He said Uzbekistan and Pakistan have already reached many agreements, but unfortunately they are not moving forward due to prevailing situation Afghanistan.
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“Pakistan and Uzbekistan have the same position on Afghanistan. Both the countries believe that the world should engage with the Taliban-led Afghan government for the sake of the Afghan people,” Yusuf said. He added that as winter approaches in Afghanistan, there is food shortage as people do not have the resources to meet their expenses.
The National Security Adviser said that it may be a luxury for the western world sitting 10,000 miles away to disengage itself from Taliban but Islamabad have no such luxury. Afghanistan has been in a state of war for four decades mainly due to the instability in Afghanistan. He urged for mutual cooperation in areas such as international crime control, drug trafficking, counter-terrorism cooperation and disaster management.
He said that previous agreements with Uzbekistan would be ‘revived’ and would be taken forward in the same manner. “The focus is on geo-economics, Pakistan’s geography is very important, but in the past we have not been able to benefit from it. The Uzbek-Pakistan-Afghan corridor is important for fulfilling our geo-economic vision,” he stressed.
Uzbekistan’s National Security Adviser has arrived in Pakistan on a three-day visit and today a joint protocol on national security was signed between the two countries. To a question, Moeed Yousuf said that Pakistan has been the biggest victim of terrorism and peace in Afghanistan is essential for Pakistan’s security. Dr Yusuf said that the Uzbekistan National Security Adviser will meet with the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister while he will also visit the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi.