ISLAMABAD:
The Foreign Office on Friday said Pakistan had maintained a “channel of communication” with Afghanistan despite the “misgivings” in the bilateral relationship between the two neighbouring countries.
“Pakistan’s foreign policy has been consistent that we want to have friendly ties with our neighbour Afghanistan,” FO spokesperson Mumtaz Zahrah Baloch told journalists at a weekly briefing in Islamabad.
“Pakistan has done everything possible to maintain positive relations with Afghanistan and in that context, we have remained engaged with [it] on all issues of concern,” she said.
“Despite our misgivings and despite our serious concerns, Pakistan has maintained a channel of communication with Afghanistan,” she added amid the ongoing tensions between the two countries.
The two neighbouring countries have been at loggerheads with each other over the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the relationship deteriorated further after Islamabad decided to deport all Afghans illegally residing in the country.
A number of Afghan Taliban leaders in recent weeks issued strong statements, criticising Pakistan’s deportation policy.
At the same time, the Afghan Taliban government rejected Pakistan’s allegation that it was harbouring the TTP.
Earlier this week, in an unusual move, caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar addressed a news conference and pretty much issued a charge sheet against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
The interim premier said despite repeated demands, the Afghan Taliban failed to rein in the TTP. He added since the Afghan Taliban’s return to power in the neighbouring country, there had been a 60% increase in terrorist strikes while the number of suicide attacks went up by a staggering 500%.
Kakar said he was compelled to hold a news conference as the Afghan Taliban leaders continued to hurl allegations against Pakistan.
The relationship between the two countries has worsened to the extent that Pakistan has decided not to extend any support to the Afghan Taliban regime at international forums.
The FO spokesperson, when asked about the deteriorating ties, did not directly comment on the apparent shift in Pakistan’s policy, but listed the challenges in the relationship.
