World needs to engage Afghan Taliban to prevent refugee crisis: Pakistan NSA abandoning

Islamabad, September 11

The world needs to constructively engage the Taliban in Afghanistan to prevent a governance collapse and avert another refugee crisis, Pakistan’s National Security Advisor Moeed Yusuf said on Saturday.

Speaking at a webinar organised by the Centre for Aerospace & Security Studies (CASS), Islamabad on ‘Future of Afghanistan and Regional Stability: Challenges, Opportunities & Way Forward’, he said that abandoning Afghanistan again by the international community will be a mistake.

After the Soviet-Afghan Mujahideen conflict in Afghanistan, the Western world committed catastrophic mistakes, including abandoning Afghanistan and sanctioning its “most allies”, Yusuf was quoted as saying in a statement.

Pakistan was the only country which bore the brunt of abandoning Afghanistan and the subsequent War on Terror, he said, adding that the world needs to constructively engage the Afghan Taliban in order to prevent governance collapse and avert another refugee crisis.

Yusuf said Pakistan was coordinating with the world to have a stable and peaceful Afghanistan.

Long Xingchun, President Chengdu Institute of World Affairs of China, said the neighbouring countries have to play the leading role in rebuilding Afghanistan. He said that the China-Pakistan Economic Cooperation (CPEC) initiative should be extended to Afghanistan and the Gwadar port can play a big role in strengthening the Afghan economy.

Russian geopolitical expert, Leonid Savin, said the recent takeover by the Afghan Taliban has changed the regional political dynamics and this will have an impact on global politics.

He said Russia can recognise the new government if China recognises it first.

Professor Fazl-Ul-Hadi Wazeen of Salam University, Kabul, said the international community should not corner Afghanistan and give the new government a chance to rule while the Afghan Taliban must also keep their promises, adopt a reconciliatory approach and refrain from the use of force.

Syed Qandi Abbas of Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, said both Pakistan and Iran expect an inclusive and permanent Afghan government in the future.

The current interim government is not inclusive and has included only three non-Pashtun individuals out of a total of 34, he said, adding Iran expects a greater accommodation of non-Pashtun people if a civil war is to be avoided in future in Afghanistan. — PTI