Daily Times

While addressing the seventh round of the Pakistan –Afghanistan Track II Dialogue in Islamabad, the Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that peace in Afghanistan is imperative for regional connectivity, and the Afghan people have to decide their future themselves.

The foreign minister also noted that he has visited different countries and also held several meetings with US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad for peace in Afghanistan.

The minister also invited Afghanistan to make a new beginning and said he believed that Pakistan and Afghanistan have a shared future.

“Pakistan has played its due role in the development of Afghanistan, pledging projects worth one billion dollars,” he added.

Mentioning a number of examples in this regard, the minister said that Afghanistan is a major trading partner of Pakistan, and the two countries carry out trade through rail and road.

The Minister also brought attention to Pakistan’s contribution for development of Afghanistan,“Over 50,000 Afghans have studied in Pakistani educational institutes and are now working in the public and private sector in Afghanistan.

“We extended 6,000 fully-funded scholarships to Afghan students. To encourage female education, we [allocated] 100 seats to female candidates form Afghanistan,” he continued.

Qureshi also stressed on Afghanistan’s importance in regional connectivity and said it cannot be ignored as completion of projects with Central Asian states such as TAPI and CASA-1000 is not possible without Afghanistan.