Amid rising violence in Afghanistan, Pakistan has reaffirmed its commitment to help Afghan government and international coalition in restoring security in the war-torn country.
"Cross-border traffic is one but not the major element in Afghanistan insecurity matrix," Pakistan's UN Ambassador Munir Akram told UN Security Council which debated the situation in Afghanistan.
Ambassador Akram spoke after the 15-nation Council was given a situation briefing by UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) head Jean Arnault. Earlier, Arnault said while troubling developments on the security front were a reminder of hurdles that Afghans faced in rebuilding their country. He was confident by year-end a representative new National Assembly would be established, and with it Afghanistan's political transition would be successfully completed.
In his speech, Ambassador Akram said Pakistan, on its part, had mounted a determined campaign to eliminate al Qaeda and Taleban elements on its side, and had captured over 700 of them. As a result of those efforts, al Qaeda command and control structure had been broken and largely dismantled. He pointed out Pakistan troops' strength in the frontier tribal areas was higher than the combined strength of the national and international military presence within Afghanistan. He was, therefore disappointed that Pakistan's efforts had not been mentioned in the secretary-general's report.
The effort to prevent two-way flow of al Qaeda, Taleban, tribal or criminal fighters was a cooperative endeavour among Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United States' forces in Afghanistan promoted through, among other things, Tripartite Commission, he said.
Pakistan, he further said supported continued presence of United States and international forces in Afghanistan until peace and stability were fully restored and a viable Afghan national army could assume full responsibility for the country security.
Apart from Afghanistan itself, no other country had a more vital stake in establishing peace, security and prosperity in that country than Pakistan, Ambassador Akram said. Peace would enable nearly three million Afghan refugees staying in Pakistan to return home. Peace and economic revival would accelerate the already burgeoning trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan. It would also benefit all countries of the region.
Pakistan relations with Afghanistan had improved and diversified considerably, he said. During Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz's visit to Kabul in July, a number of economic co-operation programmes had been agreed upon, including Pakistan's additional assistance of dollars 100 million for reconstruction. Of the dollars 100 million earlier pledged, dollars 49 million had already been utilised for humanitarian assistance, projects in infrastructure, health, education, transport and capacity building of state institutions.