Pakistan has called for further strengthening Islamabad-Kabul co-operation in fighting terrorism and extremism instead of seeking to externalise Afghanistan's problems. "The co-operation between Pakistan and Afghanistan spans the entire spectrum," Ambassador Munir Akram told the UN General Assembly.
Speaking in the debate on the situation in Afghanistan, he enumerated the steps taken by Pakistan to promote security and stability in the strife-torn country, including the establishment of 1000 border posts and deployment over 100,000 troops on its side of the border in order to interdict illegal cross border movement.
"Indeed one of the reasons for the latest developments in Pakistan was the need to deal with the threat of terrorism and extremism," Ambassador Akram said, adding: "This should not be a matter of concern, especially to our brothers in Afghanistan; on the contrary, it will enhance our ability to ensure security on our frontier and contribute to regional stability."
Pakistan, more than any other country, had suffered directly from the decades of conflict in Afghanistan, he said. It had disturbed the peace and tranquillity of the border region and had given rise to increased extremism and instability overall.
Peace and stability in the region could help Afghanistan and Pakistan grow into a central hub for activities taking place between Central Asia, South Asia and West Asia, the Pakistan ambassador said. To that end, Pakistan would be hosting the Third Regional Economic Co-operation Conference early next year. Currently, co-operation between the two countries covered the entire spectrum.
Despite its financial constraints, he said, Pakistan was contributing significantly and financially to the rebuilding of Afghanistan. Through the Tripartite Commission, and with his government's co-operation, significant success had been achieved in the joint fight against terrorism.
Ambassador Akram said one of the major outstanding challenges his government faced in regard to Afghanistan related to Afghan refugees. Pakistan continued to host more than 2 million Afghan refugees. His government had recently agreed, with the support of the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and based on the Tripartite Agreement of 2007, to the repatriation of those refugees and on the expeditious closure of four refugee camps near the joint border.
Effectively handling the refugee situation would help increase overall stability in the region and the United Nations should, therefore, use all necessary resources to assist in that process.
He stressed, however, that any response to the challenges in Afghanistan should have strong national ownership, supported by the international community. Support for government authority and capacity building was necessary for success. Rehabilitation strategies should be based on a comprehensive approach, political dialogue and reconciliation.
Security was a major challenge, the Pakistan ambassador said. At least 78 districts in Afghanistan were currently rated as extremely risky and large areas of the country remained ungoverned or were controlled by extremists. Instead of externalising Afghanistan's security problems, those sanctuaries should be eliminated first and foremost.
Terrorist groups who were not prepared to join the reconciliation process and give up violence were at the core of the violence and conflict in the country, he said.
Those groups should be confronted, but any military strategy should avoid causing problems for the overall population, since that would only further isolate those communities. It was important to win the hearts and minds of the ordinary Afghan citizen through good governance and improved living conditions. Currently, the pace of economic development and reconstruction was too slow and uneven.
There was a need to drastically increase the resources available to rebuild the economy and to improve local and national capacity for reconstruction projects.
Turning to the increase in poppy cultivation, he said the failed drug strategy was fast converting Afghanistan into a virtual drug economy.
A comprehensive and balanced strategy was necessary to break the links between drug money, terrorism and criminality.
Corruption should also be addressed, since it had a serious impact on security, economic development, peace and security, Ambassador Akram said. Ensuring that the armed forces were properly trained, paid and ethnically balanced would also be of benefit.
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