PM wants stability in Afghanistan: Fawad

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said on Wednesday that Pakistan and Afghanistan would have to decide in their own interest, as the superpowers go away after their games.

“Uniting the entire region with Central Asia and Europe through a stable Afghanistan is the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan,” the minister said while speaking here at the inaugural session of the Pak-Afghan Media Conclave, organised by the Pak-Afghan Youth Forum.

He said Prime Minister Imran Khan wants stability in Afghanistan. Fawad noted that the people of Pakistan and Afghanistan are bound to each other in historical relations and the relations are stable despite the ups and downs. He explained that the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan are bound by religious, cultural and historical ties. The minister said Russia and the United States had occupied Kabul and we suffered the consequences. Al-Qaeda carried out an operation in New York which resulted in the deterioration of the situation inside Afghanistan. The US policy in Afghanistan failed and both Afghanistan and Pakistan are facing the consequences.

Fawad continued that when the crisis in Afghanistan ended in 1988, the USSR and the United States left and the entire burden had to be borne by the people of Pakistan and Afghanistan. “We should move forward shoulder to shoulder with the people of Afghanistan,” adding Pakistan hosted millions of Afghan refugees.

“In the past, we have hosted more than five million Afghan refugees, a large part of Afghanistan’s population. Pakistan had a duty to support the Afghan people in this war and we did the same. If the situation in Afghanistan deteriorates, it will create another refugee crisis. Through the media, the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan can express their views, and through it the goal of peace can be advanced. We want peace in Afghanistan, our vision is clear,” he said.

The minister said that it was the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan to connect the entire region with Central Asia and Europe through a stable Afghanistan. “We want stability in Afghanistan and as a result we can lay the railway track from Gwadar to Uzbekistan. This will give Central Asia access to the ports of Gwadar and Karachi and we have access to Central Asian markets, connecting the EU and CPEC. As a result, Pakistan will become the economic hub of the region,” he added.

“We want good relations with India. If our relations are better, then we will be the world’s two largest economies. Peace and stability in Afghanistan would create opportunities for trade, a great vision on which Prime Minister Imran Khan is working,” he added.