Pakistan won’t fight wars for others: PM

UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan refuses to be a ‘scapegoat’ for Afghanistan’s bloodshed or to fight wars for others, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi told the United Nations. Addressing the UN General Assembly, Abbasi did not explicitly criticize US President Donald Trump’s new strategy on Afghanistan but made clear his displeasure with the renewed onus on Pakistan. “Having suffered and sacrificed so much due to our role in the global counter terrorism campaign, it is especially galling for Pakistan to be blamed for the military or political stalemate in Afghanistan,” Abbasi said. “We are not prepared to be anyone’s scapegoat,” he said. “What Pakistan is not prepared to do is to fight the Afghan war on Pakistan’s soil. Nor can we endorse any failed strategy that will prolong and intensify the suffering of the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan and other regional countries,” he said. Abbasi said that 27,000 Pakistanis had been killed by extremists since the launch of the US war on terror after the September 11, 2001 attacks. He called for a priority on eliminating extremists, including from the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda, in Afghanistan but ultimately a political solution with the Taliban. Abbasi said after 16 years of war in Afghanistan, it was clear that peace would not be restored there by the continuing resort to military force. “Neither Kabul and the Coalition, nor the Afghan Taliban can impose a military solution on each other,” he said. The prime minister said Pakistan believed that urgent and realistic goals in Afghanistan should include concerted action to eliminate the presence in that country of Daesh, Al-Qaeda and their affiliates, including the TTP and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, which was recently declared a terrorist organisation by the Security Council. He also suggested promotion of negotiations between Kabul and the Afghan Taliban – in the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) or any trilateral format – to evolve a peaceful settlement in Afghanistan. “No one desires peace in Afghanistan more than Pakistan,” the prime minister added. Abbasi said cross-border attacks did occur, but those were mostly conducted by anti-Pakistan terrorists from the ‘safe havens’ across the border. “To end all cross-border attacks we ask the Afghan government and the Coalition to support and complement Pakistan’s ongoing efforts to strengthen border controls and monitor all movement across it.” The prime minister said the people of two countries had suffered the most from four decades of foreign intervention and civil wars in Afghanistan, blighting Pakistan with the flow of extremists and terrorists, guns and drugs and millions of refugees. “They have set back our economic development by decades. Even today, Pakistan is host to over 3 million Afghan refugees,” he said. Abbasi said that Pakistan’s counter-terrorism credentials could not be questioned. After 9/11 it was Pakistani efforts that enabled the decimation of Al-Qaeda. He said that Pakistan’s military campaigns had succeeded in clearing our tribal areas of almost all militant groups. “We took the war to the terrorists. We have paid a heavy price,” Abbasi said and pointed out that over 27,000 Pakistanis, including 6,500 military and law enforcement personnel, had been martyred by the terrorists while 50,000 injured, including 15,000 army personnel, many of whom lost their limbs. He said that Pakistan had fought the war against terror from its own resources with economic losses estimated at over US$120 billion. “Yet, we remain committed to fully implementing our National Action Plan against terrorism and extremism,” he reiterated. The prime minister said that Pakistan, confronted by a hostile and increasingly militarized neighbour, had been obliged to maintain the capability for credible deterrence. “Our strategic assets are vital to deter oft-threatened aggression. They are tightly and effectively controlled, as has been widely acknowledged by experts.” said the world community would be well served by enabling Pakistan to join global non-proliferation arrangements, such as the Nuclear Suppliers Group on a non-discriminatory basis.     Published in Daily Times, September 23rd 2017.