Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has urged the global community to play its role to avert the looming humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.
Virtually addressing the six-country foreign ministers’ meeting on Wednesday, Qureshi sounded optimistic when he said “peace can be restored and a mass exodus precluded if the world help prevent a humanitarian crisis and assure economic stability to Afghanistan.”
He also urged the Taliban to ensure that the Afghan soil would not be used against any county.
The foreign minister said that the change in Afghanistan is a reality. “The situation in the war-torn county will have profound effects not only on our regions, but also on the entire world,” he added.
About the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul, Qureshi said that no one could predict such a rapid change in Afghanistan.
Qureshi heaved a sigh of relief that “much-dreaded bloodshed” in Afghanistan has been prevented and a mass exodus has not yet taken place.
He stressed the United Nations and its agencies for urgent provision of humanitarian assistance. “The UN playing a lead role, would reinforce the process of confidence-building,” he continued.
Qureshi expressed the hope that the political situation in Afghanistan will stabilise soon, adding that “it requires discarding old lenses, developing new insights, and proceeding with a realistic and pragmatic approach.”
“The centre of our endeavors must remain the well-being of the Afghan people who have suffered enormously due to conflict and instability for more than 40 years,” the foreign minister concluded.
The meeting was held at the invitation of Pakistan to discuss situation in Afghanistan.
The Foreign Office said in a statement that Qureshi chaired the meeting, which was attended by China, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
