Daily Times

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood fears another civil war in Afghanistan if the Taliban and the Afghan government fail to reach a deal before the withdrawal of foreign forces is completed.

“There’s a stalemate at the moment and I hope you can get over the stalemate because if stalemate continues, and the withdrawal is completed, unfortunately, you will be sacked back into the 90s, which is not good for Afghanistan, which is not good for Pakistan, and which is not good for the region,” Qureshi told TOLOnews’ Lotfullah Najafizada in Islamabad while referring to infighting of the Mujahideen leaders after the collapse of the communist regime.

“It depends on you, depends on the Afghan leadership, depends on the ability of the Afghan leadership to carve a way forward. If you fail, if the Afghan leadership fails, then yes, we are heading for a civil war. And God forbid, if there is one, then you suffer and we suffer as well,” the foreign minister said.

When asked if Pakistan wants to deal with the central government in Kabul, Qureshi said Pakistan wants to deal with the government chosen by the people of Afghanistan through elections as his country believes in democracy and would want a democratic order in Afghanistan.

He disagreed with a question that Pakistan’s invitations to Afghan leaders means to challenge the central authority in Afghanistan and said the purpose is to promote a better understanding.

“There were misperceptions and a lot of you know talk that Pakistan is just concentrating on a particular faction (Pashtoon), particular school of thought. No, we want to engage with everyone, we want to be friends with everyone, we want to be friends with Afghanistan and the people of Afghanistan. Now, Afghanistan has different ethnic groups. We want to engage with all of them for a better understanding,” Qureshi went on to say.

Asked has Pakistan offered the Afghan security forces to be trained in Pakistan, he said Kabul has not refused but has also not yet taken the offer seriously.

“We honestly feel that we can be of assistance, you know, your cadets coming here, your diplomats coming here, getting training in the Foreign Service Academy, in our military institutions. We can be of service,” he said.

When asked if America defeated Afghanistan, Qureshi did not directly reply but said the Americans have said that they have achieved their objective and their objective was to break the back of international terrorist organizations and to protect the mainland United States.

To another question about withdrawal of the US forces, Qureshi said they can’t be here forever and they had to leave and “if they are satisfied that they have achieved their objectives, then we are okay with that.”

When asked about the status of the Afghan peace process, he said the peace process has to come to its logical conclusion through an intra-Afghan negotiation.

“We’re not sitting on the table with them. Wherever required, we’ve facilitated. We cannot decide for you. It’s the Afghans that will sit and decide what they want,” he added.

He said the bulk of the Afghan Taliban leadership is not living in Pakistan, in fact, is living in Afghanistan.

But when the anchor pointed out that Doha’s Taliban negotiators are coming to Pakistan they said publicly for consultations, Qureshi said they visit “for facilitating the peace process”, adding “they (Taliban) go to Doha. They have been traveling to other places, they went to Moscow, they went to other places.”

When asked if the Taliban are ready for peace, the foreign minister said he thinks they are ready for peace as they have suffered as well.

Qureshi said the Taliban and the Afghan government should show flexibility to make the negotiations fruitful and if both sides stick to their position then there will be no peace in Afghanistan?

“The Afghan people want peace. Why can’t the leadership of Afghanistan understand that people are sick and tired of war. People are fatigued, people are tired, people have lost children and families.”

He said the TTP (Tehreek Taliban-e-Pakistan) has undertaken terrorist activities, using Afghan soil against Pakistan.

“And we’re concerned about that. And, we have spoken to the Afghan authorities and we feel they need to be monitored and they need to be checked. When you say no safe havens, we say no safe havens on both sides,” Qureshi further said.

The foreign minister disagreed with the question that the Taliban “shuras” – the Quetta and Peshawar — are operating in Pakistan.

“I think the Taliban Shura is sitting right there in Afghanistan. Go look for it,” he said.

To a question about the Indian influence in Afghanistan, Qureshi said Afghanistan has the right to have sovereign relations with India and bilateral relations with India.

“You trade with India, they come and carry out development work there. That’s fine, that’s completely fine with us. But at times we feel that their presence is perhaps larger than it ought to be because they don’t share a border with you. If they used your soil against us, it bothers me. Yes, they are (using Afghan soil) by carrying out terrorist activities,” he said.