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Mr. President,
It is a pleasure to speak in the Security Council under your able Presidency.
We thank the Secretary General for his report.
We greatly appreciate the briefing provided to the Council by Mr. Nicholas Haysom, Special Representative on Afghanistan and Mr. Yuri Fedotov, Executive Director UNODC.
Likewise, it is always instructive to hear the remarks of our brother, Ambassador Zahir Tanin of Afghanistan.
Mr. President,
This debate is taking place at another crucial moment for Afghanistan and the region, when the country faces imposing economic, security and political challenges.
In recent weeks, the security situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated significantly, with violent attacks in Kabul and across the country.
Pakistan condemns all terrorist violence in Afghanistan. There can be no justification for attacks, which kill innocent children, women and men.
In Afghanistan, as elsewhere, there are two possible paths to ending war and violence: a military victory over the insurgents, or a negotiated peace.
There is a general consensus within the international community that peace can be best restored through a negotiated solution with the Afghan insurgency, led by the Tehrik e Taliban Afghanistan. UNAMA’s call earlier this morning for renewing direct engagement between the parties to the conflict is further confirmation of this.
Several avenues for reconciliation have been explored over the years, in Doha, Urimqi and elsewhere. Obviously, reconciliation and dialogue has to be between the Afghans themselves. It has to be owned and conducted by Afghans. External parties can facilitate such reconciliation but they cannot impose a solution on the Afghans.
My country's priority was, and remains, to defeat the terrorists it is itself confronting. They are responsible for hundreds of attacks against civilian and security targets. They have killed over 64,000 of our citizens and security personnel, including innocent children at a Peshawar school.
Our military campaign, Zarb e Azb, and Pakistan's multi-dimensional National Action Plan, have degraded these terrorist groups and flushed out and eliminated those trying to use our soil for their violent agendas. Their infrastructure in North Waziristan and adjacent areas has been destroyed. Their few remaining hideouts in Shawal valley and other isolated redoubts are under consistent attack.
Mr. President,
It was at the request of President Ashraf Ghani that Pakistan undertook to facilitate a dialogue between Kabul and the Afghan Taliban. Our sole aim was to establish direct contact between them and the Unity Government.
The first round of intra-Afghan talks was hosted in Murree on 7 July. Representatives of China and the US observed these talks. The objective was ensuring transparency and impartiality. The outcome of this round was encouraging. Both the Afghan government and representatives of the Taliban agreed to continue the dialogue. A specific date – 31 July – was set for the second round of the talks.
A few days before that date, certain developments took place whose consequence was predictable.
These developments led to the rupture of what could have been a promising peace process. The Afghan Taliban were unable to return to the table.
Equally inevitably, the level of violence in Afghanistan escalated, including a series of attacks, which claimed hundreds of innocent lives. Pakistan unequivocally condemned all these attacks.
But we were shocked when some in Afghanistan chose to lay the blame for escalating violence on Pakistan. Our efforts to encourage the Taliban leaders to revive the dialogue should not be misconstrued as any form of endorsement for their revived violence, following the scuttling of the intra-Afghan talks. There are vast uncontrolled areas in Afghanistan from where such violence emanates against both Afghan targets and against Pakistan.
Pakistan has refrained from responding to allegations made by certain Afghans quarters. On the contrary, Pakistan’s Prime Minister dispatched our National Security Adviser to Kabul on Sept 4 to reaffirm Pakistan's desire to assist Afghanistan's reconciliation process as well as to take part in the Sixth Regional Economic Conference on Afghanistan.
We have declared that Afghanistan's enemies are also enemies of Pakistan. We should both be clear who these enemies are. Those who are working overtime to sabotage and poison Pak-Afghan relations are no friends of Afghanistan.
Pakistan is very clear in its conviction that continued conflict in Afghanistan is not in our own national interest. Peace in Afghanistan, and cooperation with Kabul, will enable us to fully defeat our common threat from violent groups. It will pave the way for the voluntary return of millions of Afghan refugees we still host – the most protracted presence of refugees in any single country in recent history. It will open the way for the ambitious plans for regional development and integration we have jointly worked on.
In conclusion Mr. President, let me say we seek peace, friendship and cooperation between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Mutual respect for each other’s national interests and sensitivities must be the bedrock of our future relationship.
I thank you, Mr. President.