Daily Times

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Saturday reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to a stable, peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan.

The foreign minister held a telephonic conversation with Acting Afghan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Amir Khan Muttaqi. They discussed a range of issues of mutual concern, Foreign Office Spokesperson posted on her Twitter handle.

The call comes after Pakistan witnessed a rise in terrorism and the local authorities blame the Afghan Taliban for not ensuring that their soil isn’t used by outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) for launching attacks on Islamabad.

In an interview with a US broadcaster, Voice of America, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that the proscribed TTP is still using Afghan soil for launching attacks on Pakistan – especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“Islamabad has good relations with the ruling Taliban government in Kabul. However, the Afghan authorities have not succeeded in stopping the use of their territory in attacks on Pakistan,” he said.

Meanwhile, Bilawal praised the United Nations development system, especially its resident coordinator’s office in Islamabad, for their crucial role in supporting Pakistan’s national efforts to respond and recover from the “dire situation” caused by the devastating floods in August last year.

“The Resident Coordinator Office was our go-to place for coordinating UN response to catastrophic floods,” he said in a video message at a roundtable discussion held at UN Headquarters in New York on the case study regarding the ‘coordinated and comprehensive response to Pakistan’s floods in 2022’.

The foreign minister said the resident coordinator’s role “significantly streamlined” coordination effort for the government and ensured smooth exchange of information among all partners on the country’s emergency situation.

He expressed his appreciation to Resident Coordinator Julien Harneis and his able team for helping Pakistan launch the flash appeal in a timely manner, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for his extraordinary support and his solidarity visit to Pakistan, in the wake of the floods.

“The resident coordinator played a central role in closely coordinating the organisation of the international relief and recovery assistance, especially through timely communications with the federal and provincial departments, multilateral agencies, and bilateral donors,” FM Bilawal said. “That ensured timely identification of relief needs and the sources and modalities to meet these needs, and the coordination helped save precious lives and respond to humanitarian needs of the affectees,” he told the meeting.

The resident coordinator, FM Bilawal said, also played a critical role in the formulation of Pakistan’s comprehensive recovery plan with the help of a team, including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, the European Union and the UN Development Programme (UNDP), that worked with the relevant Pakistan ministries.

Later, he said, Pakistan, in coordination with its partners from the UN system, formulated the Resilient Recovery, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Framework (4RF).

“The 4RF provides an overarching framework for planning, financing, implementing and monitoring Pakistan’s recovery efforts,” the foreign minister said.

“The government’s current focus is to transform these plans into concrete and viable projects for timely and effective implementation.”