Islamabad, January 01: Pakistan warned foreign forces on Thursday not to leave Afghanistan “in haste”, saying Islamabad was committed to its role as a partner to the US in the battle against terrorism.
Washington is urging Pakistan to crack down on terrorist strongholds along its border, but US President Barack Obama unnerved many officials by vowing to begin drawing down US forces in Afghanistan in July 2011.
“The decision to leave Afghanistan should be taken when the country is able to look after itself effectively,” Foreign Office (FO) spokesman Abdul Basit told.
“Stability and peace in Afghanistan is in our strategic interest. We are therefore engaged with the US in ensuring that the new US Afghan policy delivers. Coalition forces should not leave Afghanistan in haste,” he added. “There are some concerns and we are in talks with the US over these concerns,” the spokesman said.
Won’t improve: He said the situation in Afghanistan would not improve unless India stopped using Afghanistan to interfere in Pakistan.
“We hope that our concerns (regarding Indian interference) will be taken seriously because we do not want this region to destabilise. Should this interference continue, I am afraid things will not improve,” Basit said, adding that Islamabad had concerns about Indian involvement in its affairs and “these concerns had been discussed with Kabul and other relevant countries several times”.
He said the country had differences with the US on the drone attacks issue, adding that Islamabad had communicated its concerns to Washington on many occasions.
Basit hoped the US would understand that these attacks were counter-productive and not serving any useful purpose.
The spokesman said that Pakistan had an extradition treaty with the US as a successor state of British India, adding that statements made by the Indian Army chief showed Delhi’s hostile intent and were not productive.
“No one should ever underestimate our capability and determination to defend our country,” he said, urging the international community to take notice of such statements coming from across the border.
Regarding the handing over the dossier on Indian involvement in Balochistan and Waziristan, he said, “we will proceed as and when we deem appropriate”.
Basit said the country had agreed to postpone the repatriation of Afghan refugees for another three years due to instability in Afghanistan.
He said there was no back channel diplomacy with India on the Kashmir dispute at the moment. “We do not see sincerity on India’s part to resolve the Kashmir dispute in accordance with UN resolutions,” he said.
Islamabad has expressed concern that Obama’s new war strategy, announced in December, could destabilise the region if forces leave before Afghanistan is able to counter a virulent Taliban insurgency alone.
Plans to send 30,000 more US troops into the war zone have also raised fears that militants might flee new offensives and head into Pakistan’s northwest and southern border regions.
–Agencies