FM Qureshi urges need to achieve political settlement in Afghanistan

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Tuesday stressed upon the Afghan leaders to achieve a "negotiated political settlement at the earliest" as US forces withdraw from the country, saying such a measure would bring peace, stability and prosperity in Afghanistan.

In a meeting with his Afghan counterpart Haneef Atmar on the sidelines of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers meeting in Dushanbe, Qureshi reaffirmed Pakistan's "consistent support" to a peaceful and united Afghanistan, which is at peace with itself and its neighbours, the Foreign Office said in a statement.

The foreign minister remarked that Afghan leaders should seize the current "historic opportunity" and take advantage of international convergence on the final settlement of the Afghan conflict by working together on an inclusive, broad-based and comprehensive political settlement.

Qureshi also expressed concern over high levels of violence in Afghanistan which has resulted in the loss of many lives. He emphasised the need to take immediate steps to decrease violence, leading to a comprehensive ceasefire.

Stressing that "negative statements" could not cloud Pakistan's positive contribution to the Afghan peace process and that "blame game would not serve the region," the foreign minister urged his Afghan counterpart to address all concerns through established institutional mechanisms, including the Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity.

He said Pakistan looked forward to hosting the review meeting of APAPPS in Islamabad at the earliest. "Pakistan supports a peaceful and stable Afghanistan, which would yield mutual dividends and benefits in terms of peace in the region, economic prosperity and regional connectivity," he added, according to the FO.

Earlier, Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Tuesday emphasised the need to ensure equitable vaccine distribution to all countries, saying the Covid-19 challenge couldn't be surmounted without this measure. Addressing a virtual meeting the Non Aligned Movement

of (NAM), hosted by Azerbaijan, he said we must urgently mobilise financial resources to recover from Covid-19 and help developing countries get back on the path to achieving sustainable development goals by 2030.

The NAM, born at the height of the Cold War, started out as a group of nations seeing themselves as independent of the two power blocs centred on Washington and Moscow.

Since then, it has become a vehicle for championing the interests of developing states, calling for reforms to limit the powers of the UN Security Council, promoting a Palestinian state, and condemning Western sanctions on some of its members, including Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria and Zimbabwe.