DURING his address to the UN General Assembly session and an exhaustive interview to Newsweek,Prime Minister Imran Khan made a strong case for sustainable peace and security in war-torn Afghanistan making an impassioned appeal to the international community to provide much-needed humanitarian assistance to the country and urging the US and the Taliban to become partners for peace.
He warned that in case of continued inaction over 90% of the Afghan population could go below poverty line besides emergence of fresh refugee crisis, regional chaos and international problems.
It is regrettable that under the influence of the US-led West, most of the countries have adopted a highly biased and discriminatory approach to the emerging situation in Afghanistan where people are hugely suffering due to the vacuum created by clumsy American withdrawal and crumbling down of the artificially raised government structure.
As a majority of the world is watching the situation as silent spectators, the new Taliban government is facing extreme financial and economic difficulties with fear that the country might once again plunge into chaos.
This is despite the fact that for the first time the entire Afghanistan is under one central government capable of promoting national unity and addressing grievances of both the Afghan people as well as the international community.
In this backdrop, the Prime Minister has rightly stated that if the world community incentivises the Taliban government, and encourages them, it will be a win-win situation for everyone.
Imran Khan also effectively put across Pakistan’s point of view on the latest developments in Afghanistan telling the world community that Pakistan was wrongly being blamed for the turn of events, by politicians in the United States and some politicians in Europe, adding that the country that suffered the most, apart from Afghanistan, was Pakistan, when it joined the US war on terror after 9/11.
The long drawn conflict in Afghanistan caused deaths of eighty thousand Pakistanis, $150 billion worth of economic losses and displaced 3.5 million Pakistanis besides the burden of millions of refugees that are still living in Pakistan.
There was never a military solution to the problem and that is why Pakistan had all along been emphasizing the need for a negotiated settlement.
The world ultimately subscribed to this viewpoint when the US entered into a peace deal with the Taliban followed by a similar accord between the Kabul Government and the Taliban but flawed withdrawal compounded the situation as the focus of the withdrawing forces/countries was just on safe passage for them and not on the need to leave behind an intact system of governance capable of delivering in the changed circumstances.
If the world did not come to the aid of the Taliban in tackling a plethora of challenges, there are justified apprehensions of some terrorist outfits raising their ugly heads again, which would not only be a source of concern for regional countries including Pakistan but also other countries of the globe.
That is why, in his interview, the Prime Minister proposed that the United States and Pakistan should work together to neutralize the threat of terror from Afghanistan.
As also pointed out by the PM, the US had a working relationship with the Taliban and it should not be difficult for Washington to work with a new government in Afghanistan to promote common interests and regional stability.
As the United States remained closely engaged in Afghanistan for 20 long years, it was in a position to play an important and positive role in Afghanistan by providing humanitarian assistance, contributing to Afghanistan’s recovery and reconstruction and cooperating in containing terrorism from Afghanistan.
Security and stability in Afghanistan would open up new vistas of regional cooperation as a number of important projects and corridors are linked to sustainable peace in that country.
The closer interaction of the Taliban government with regional countries and other states of the world would also help neutralize their viewpoint on different issues of concern to the outside world.
Therefore, close engagement offers the only option for durable peace and progress in Afghanistan and, hopefully, the international community would not miss a golden opportunity to bring about a real change there.
