Qureshi Critical of Mohib’s Statement on Pakistan’s Afghan Policy

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Wednesday responded to Afghanistan’s National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib’s recent criticism of Pakistan’s policy on Afghanistan. The Pakistani Foreign Minister said that on the one hand, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani urges Pakistan for cooperation and, on the other hand, levels baseless allegations against Islamabad.

Speaking in a session of Pakistan’s parliament, Qureshi asked Ghani to decide what he wants from Pakistan.

Meanwhile, the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) in reference to Qureshi’s remarks said that Afghanistan considers it its responsibility to tell the truth.

“I want to ask Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani: On the one hand you are asking Pakistan to help, but, on the other hand, your employee levels allegations against Pakistan and criticizes the Pakistani institutions. For god’s sake, what do you want? We want peace, we want friendship, we want stability, we want regional connectivity, we want economic cooperation, we want bilateral trade, we want to shift geopolitics to geoeconomics. But what do you want? Make up your minds, make up your minds,” said Qureshi.

Last week Mohib in address to a gathering in the eastern province of Nangarhar strongly criticized Pakistan’s Afghan policy and said that Pakistan’s intelligence service–the ISI–is not supposed to have mercy on the Afghans.

“The government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is obliged to tell its people the truth as it sees fit, the concerns of the Afghan people regarding terrorism are shared with Pakistan on a regular basis,” said Hamed Tahzeeb, a deputy spokesman at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Afghan Foreign Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar on Tuesday spoke about a recent trip of a high-level Pakistani delegation to Kabul. He said the two sides reached agreements about the peace process in Afghanistan, but the two countries now need to take practical steps to expand bilateral cooperation on peace in Afghanistan.

Atmar made it clear that Afghanistan will not trust any sort of commitment unless practical steps are taken.

“A Pakistani delegation came here, the delegation made a number of commitments, currently we have these agreements on the table,” said Atmar.

“We have not pursued a clear policy toward Pakistan and so far we have not managed to recognize Pakistan in a true sense,” said MP Ibdalullah Mohammadi.

“Pakistan should act honestly with us,” said MP Robina Jalali.