At a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting in Dushanbe, the Tajik capital, Pakistan summed up its position on Afghanistan in a single sentence. According to The Express Tribune, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar told the narrow-format session of the SCO Council of Heads of Government on Tuesday that Pakistan has "only one expectation from the Afghan Taliban regime: that the Afghan territory must not be used for terrorism against Pakistan or any other country."
A peaceful Afghanistan, a peaceful region
Dar said Pakistan wants a peaceful, stable, regionally integrated and prosperous Afghanistan at peace with itself and its neighbours, adding that Pakistan had made sincere efforts to support Afghanistan's development and the well-being of its people.
He said sustainable economic development could not be guaranteed without durable peace and security, and that stability in Afghanistan was imperative for the peace of the whole region. A peaceful neighbourhood, he said, was an essential foundation for regional development.
Push for energy and transport investment
Dar said targeted investment in core sectors, especially energy and transport, was vital for regional economic integration, and that Pakistan also favoured more investment in agriculture, mining, minerals and information technology.
He recalled that Pakistan hosted the Council of Heads of Government meeting in Islamabad in 2024 and had concluded its chairmanship of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure this year. As chair of the SCO working group on poverty alleviation, Pakistan intends this year to highlight the role of small and medium enterprises in reducing poverty, he said.
Background
The remarks come amid recent reports of clashes on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, and Pakistan has repeatedly accused groups attacking it of operating from Afghan soil.