NEW YORK, Pakistan\u2019s Ambassador to the United Nations, Munir Akram, has welcomed the fact that the Taliban are giving assurances to form an inclusive government in Afghanistan and to uphold human rights of its citizens, saying the international community should hold them to that commitment.<\/p>\n
Responding to questions during an interview on a major American television network, he said the Taliban leadership was giving those assurances because they knew that the international community was watching.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey want recognition and acceptance by the international community, and we should use that leverage in order to ensure good behaviour on their part,\u201d Ambassador Akram said in an interview with FOX news, a conservative TV channel, on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
While the channel\u2019s anchor, Bret Baier, kept voicing skepticism over the Taliban pledges and reminding about their past history, the Pakistani envoy said, \u201cWe need to look ahead and see how we can influence and evolve the situation in a direction which serves the interests of Afghanistan, of the region, and of the international community. \u201d<\/p>\n
In this regard, he said, among the priority actions were the evacuation of those who want to leave Afghanistan, noting that the United States was evacuating its own people and others.<\/p>\n
Pakistan, he said, was also helping in the evacuation \u2014 taking diplomats, international agencies\u2019 representatives as well as journalists, and anybody who wishes to leave through Pakistan.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also need to encourage an inclusive government in Kabul and there too, the United States, Pakistan and other countries are working in Doha, as well as in Islamabad.\u201d<\/p>\n
A delegation of a number of non-Pashtun ethnic representatives has been meeting with the Pakistani Foreign Minister (Shah Mahmood Qureshi) and with the country\u2019s leadership \u201cin order to get an engagement with them and the Taliban in order to evolve, a representative government,\u201d the Pakistani envoy said.<\/p>\n
About the threat of Al-Qaeda following the return of Taliban to Afghanistan, Ambassador Akram said the terrorist group has basically been decimated through the cooperation between the United States and Pakistan. \u201cWe captured and killed over 600, al Qaeda operatives in Afghanistan and in the border regions of Pakistan,\u201d he said adding, \u201cthe group was now a shadow of itself and was not operational.\u201d<\/p>\n
The real threat, he said, now comes from Daesh, an organization that the Taliban have been fighting. \u201cThere are other terrorists who are more dangerous \u2014 the TTP (Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan), which attacks Pakistan, and has 6,000 fighters on the Afghan soil\u2013 that is what we are worried about.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we are worried about Da\u2019esh, we are worried about the TTP, al Qaeda is a shadow, and, of course, we should control it, but the threat is much more multifarious than just that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ambassador Akram said he was looking forward to peace in Afghanistan because this would be good for Pakistan too.<\/p>\n
He said there was convergence among the role of Pakistan and the United States in fighting terrorism in the region, and to ensure that there was no terrorism from Afghanistan because that threatened both the countries.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo,\u201d the Pakistani envoy said, \u201cWe have a common cause, and we need to build an international coalition in order to ensure that that there is no terrorism which emanates from Afghanistan.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW YORK, Pakistan\u2019s Ambassador to the United Nations, Munir Akram, has welcomed the fact that the Taliban are giving assurances to form an inclusive government in Afghanistan and to uphold human rights of its citizens, saying the international community should hold them to that commitment. […]<\/p>\n
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