Pak hopes Taliban-led Afghan govt would bring ‘peace’; work towards humanitarian needs

Pakistan on Friday hoped that the new interim government in Afghanistan led by the Taliban would bring “peace, security and stability” to the war-torn country and work towards taking care of humanitarian and development needs of the Afghan people.

Pakistan was closely following the evolving situation in Afghanistan, including the formation of new political set-up to address the requirement of a governance structure to meet the urgent needs of Afghanistan, Foreign Office spokesperson Asim Iftikhar Ahmed said at the weekly press briefing here.

“We hope that the new political dispensation will ensure coordinated efforts for peace, security and stability in Afghanistan as well as work towards taking care of humanitarian and development needs of the Afghan people,” he said.

Pakistan has an abiding interest in Afghanistan’s peace, he said.

“We also expect the international community would play its due role in helping address the urgent needs of the Afghan people in order to avert a humanitarian crisis,” he said.

Ahmed said that Pakistan was doing “proactive diplomacy” after the US military withdrawal from Afghanistan as its embassy was working there and it was trying to help ensure sustainable peace and stability in Afghanistan.

He said Prime Minister Imran Khan has spoken to 13 world leaders and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has had 25 telephonic conversations with his counterparts since August 15, while foreign ministers of six countries have visited Islamabad.

He said while the responsible members of the international community were engaged in deliberating the best way forward for Afghanistan, it was “extremely deplorable that certain spoilers and detractors, the same known actors, remain busy in peddling false narratives and disinformation, which by the way already stood busted and discredited by various sources”.

The Taliban has announced a hardline interim government led by Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund, chief of the Taliban's powerful decision-making body 'Rehbari Shura'.

He will be the Acting Prime Minister while Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar will be his deputy in the ''new Islamic government”, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said at a news conference in Kabul.

The announcement of key figures in the caretaker government comes weeks after the Taliban seized control of war-torn Afghanistan, ousting the previous elected leadership which was backed by the West.

UN designated terrorist Sirajuddin Haqqani is also part of the interim Taliban government. Haqqani, a specially designated global terrorist and son of the famous anti-Soviet warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani who founded the Haqqani Network, is the new acting interior minister in the 33-member Cabinet that has no woman member.

Haqqani has been one of two deputy leaders of the Taliban since 2016 and has a USD 10 million US bounty on his head.