Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein has said that the situation in Afghanistan was a cause for concern due to the escalation of violence by the Taliban.
Minister Fuad Hussein was talking to media along with Shah Mahmood Qureshi after a meeting in Islamabad on Wednesday.
The Iraqi foreign minister had arrived in Islamabad for a two-day visit at Foreign Minister Qureshi’s invitation. The two leaders held delegation-level talks on a wide range of matters of bilateral, regional and international importance.
The Iraqi foreign minister said they had discussed the Afghan issue and were worried about the situation in the war-torn country.
“We are worried about the situation in Afghanistan because we see signals of using violence to solve the issue. The peace process and meetings are continuing and we hope that the solution will be through the peace process and negotiation between various factions in Afghanistan.
“At the end, Afghanistan needs peace. Peace in Afghanistan will affect the neighbours as well but violence in Afghanistan affects all of us,” the Iraqi foreign minister said.
He acknowledged that Pakistan was playing an important role, adding that he was confident “Pakistan wants to have peace in Afghanistan and believes in the various political groups coming together and working together to be partners.”
When asked about a recent anti-Pakistan campaign on social media regarding Afghanistan despite the former’s efforts for peace and asked to identify the elements behind it, Foreign Minister Qureshi said that Pakistan was consistently advocating a reduction in violence and continuously supporting the peace process.
“We have done everything possible to facilitate a peaceful and stable Afghanistan and will continue to do that despite the negative statements emanating from some quarters within Afghanistan. It needs to be understood why they are doing that.
“If you look at some of the social media trends, we have gone into it in greater detail and come to the conclusion that the bulk of it is orchestrated. It is not a natural trend — it is a bot-controlled trend — and it is part of a smear campaign to divert attention from internal challenges that Afghanistan is going through,” said Qureshi.
He said Pakistan sympathised with Afghanistan and would support it but would not shy away from saying “what we believe in because of our clear approach”.
“We are sincere in the peace process and we will not be apologetic because we have done whatever we could and will continue to do what we can for peace, stability and regional connectivity.”
Qureshi said the incumbent government’s economic security paradigm and shift from geopolitics to geo-economics required peace, hence why “we are advocates of peace”.
“We have never advocated use of force and we have never shown inclination towards a particular group. We have no favourites,” he stressed.
