Given its growing influence in the region, Russia’s role in the Afghan peace process will remain decisive, Pakistan believes.
In an interview with Sputnik, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi hailed Russia as an important regional player.
“We feel Russia’s importance has grown because of the very constructive approach it has adopted towards peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan,” he told the media outlet.
Following his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow, he referred to the multilateral talks on Afghanistan, called the Moscow format.
He said Pakistan had participated in the Moscow-hosted talks multiple times. “So Russia’s role has been there and will remain there because of Russia’s global importance and within the region.”
Pakistan had warned Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) members of “spoilers” trying to undermine the Afghan peace process from both within and outside the country, Qureshi said.
The long-awaited direct peace negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan government are due to begin in Doha on Saturday.
“We are cognizant of the fact that there are spoilers. And I warned my colleagues to beware of those spoilers from inside and outside,” the minister added.
The spoilers did not want peace to return to Afghanistan, he alleged. Pakistan and other regional states felt the Afghans deserved stability, peace and economic prosperity, he explained.
Islamabad wanted the intra-Afghan talks in Doha to succeed, as it believed that peace in the neighbouring country would have a direct impact on Pakistan and unlock unprecedented trade and economic opportunities on the region, he remarked.
“We wish them success because we are interested in a peaceful and stable Afghanistan. If things improve in Afghanistan, they’ll have a direct positive impact for Pakistan.
“When things deteriorate there, we get affected,” Qureshi said after the meeting of the SCO foreign ministers.
Both Pakistan and Afghanistan had paid a heavy price and lost many economic opportunities because of terrorism and insecurity in the region, the foreign minister continued.
Pakistan would continue to play a constructive role and try to facilitate the peace process, promised the foreign minister.
Stability in Afghanistan would pave the ground for the execution of CASA-1000 and the Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India gas pipeline project besides strengthening people-to-people contact, he hoped.
Qureshi made clear the Afghans themselves should decide on the future of their country. “It’s up to the Afghans. It’s their future. They have to decide what kind of political dispensation they want.”
