During the fourth visit of Beyond Boundaries’ Pakistan Afghanistan Joint Committee (PAJC) in Islamabad, as part of the strategic sideline meetings with government stakeholders, the PAJC members met with Additional Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Muhemmed Aejaz, to discuss recent Pak-Afghan bilateral developments under APAPPS, at Serena Hotel, on September 06, 2018.
Mr. Aejaz told the two PAJC delegations that he believes Pakistan’s security and prosperity depend on Afghanistan “what other countries do we say that for?” he asked, further saying that this says a lot about Pakistan-Afghanistan relationship. The two neighbors’ relations have been on a positive trajectory and APAPPS gives us a very solid way to move forward. How we got to an elaborate and detailed document, is not only a great milestone, but also unprecedented, he added. He said the recent high level APAPPS delegation that visited Kabul on 22nd of July, had very important and useful meetings of all the five working groups under APAPPS. The operationalizing phase is now being finalized under the respective working groups.
Responding to queries by PAJC members, Mr. Aejaz stated that the military solution will not work in Afghanistan; there needs to be a political solution. Regarding the upcoming elections in Afghanistan, Mr. Aejaz said that Pakistan has no favorites in Afghanistan. The Afghans should decide who they wish should rule in Afghanistan. He added that, along with Afghanistan, Pakistan, too, has suffered for the last forty years and “it is time to listen to each other’s concerns now.”
He went on to add that ever since Trump has said that his policy is to be unpredictable, the Taliban have decided to be that too. However, he assured the PAJC members that Pakistan will not be unpredictable and will be a willing partner. Further noting that, it is not only Pakistan that has links with the Taliban, Iran, Russia, China and the United States itself has links with them too.
Afghan Member of Parliament, Mr. Khalid Pashtoon stated that it was his pleasure to congratulate the people of Pakistan on electing a new government, hoping that the situation will improve now for Pak-Afghan bilateral relations, as President Ghani was the first head of the state who called and congratulated PM elect (at that time) Imran Khan and extended invitation to visit Kabul, which he has agreed, but the dates are not announced as yet. He hoped that the Prime Minister’s visit and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi’s visit to Kabul will further pave way for a stable and improved bilateral partnership.
Concluding on a positive note the Additional Secretary said “there now seems to be positive energy to work together, and as diplomats we need that energy”.