Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Peace and stability in Afghanistan is an important objective for Pakistan and effective Pak-Afghan border management is required in order to curb malicious terrorist activities and is the need of the hour, said Tehmina Janjua, Foreign Secretary of Pakistan.

She was speaking at the concluding session of the international conference, Achieving Peace in Afghanistan: Challenges and Prospects, organised by the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI) in collaboration with the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF).

Addressing a packed hall of delegates from Kabul, Washington, Tehran, Beijing, Belfast and Moscow, she stressed that Pakistan desires meaningful engagement with Afghanistan as both have shared history, culture, ethnicity and religion. She said, “Pakistan is focusing on enhancing people-to-people contact between the two countries. High-level officials have visited Afghanistan to show their overtures for peace, and we have recently started training Afghan medical doctors and paramedic staff in Pakistan, along with awarding 3000 scholarships and launching 3000 more for Afghan youth.”

The envoy also shared that under the Afghan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA), Pakistan has been providing transit route for Afghan trade.