The Ambassador of Afghanistan to Pakistan Mohammad Sadiq said that a prosperous and peaceful Afghanistan is eminent for stability in Pakistan and entire region, saying that they strongly support any peace effort carried out jointly by the two neighbouring states. He was addressing at a seminar on "Pak-Afghan relations in the changing world scenario" organised by department of Political Sciences, University of Peshawar here on Thursday.
The Afghanistan is strongly supporting the reconciliation and peace process comprising all the ethnic groups and stakeholders in the war affected country, said Sadiq. He further said that the relationships with neighbours are not easy due to differences and outstanding disputes. He, however, said there is need to address all issues through dialogue and in a peaceful manner.
Though, the Afghan Envoy acknowledged that both neighbouring states have made mistakes in the past. "We need to move forward to achieve regional prosperity", he stressed. He informed that price of daily use products have been registered a substantial increase due to delaying supply of goods from Pakistan. Currently, he said, the trade volume between two neighbouring states stood around $2 billion per year, while the unofficial trade reaches around $5 billion per annum.
For the last 30 years around 30,000 Afghan students have graduated from Pakistani Universities and data reveals that today 30% of the human resource running the affairs of the country has got higher education here. He further stated that today Pakistan focus in Afghanistan in not Pashtun centric only but we are engaging with other ethnic groups as well. He said that during the last three years 2,000 Afghan students have been granted scholarship in Pak Universities amongst whom 1,000 are people other than Pashtuns.
About Pakistan efforts in reconstruction of Afghanistan the Ambassador said that we have recently handed over the newly-constructed building of Liaquat Ali Khan Engineering University at Balkh to the Afghan government and several other educational and infrastructure projects are underway.
Relying to a query from student of Political science about Pakistan policy to use Afghanistan as strategic depth, the envoy turned down the misconception and said that it is not part of Pakistan foreign policy. He added a country called as graveyard for empires cannot be made as a strategic depth.
About the possible inclination of Afghanistan towards India and its interest in the region, Sadiq said that Afghanistan has stayed away from our western borders even at war times both in 1965 and 1971 when the country was vulnerable, shows that this myth is wrong. He added both Pakistan and India have four consulates in Afghanistan and a balance has been maintained there. The seminar was also addressed by Chairman Department of Political Science Professor Dr A.Z. Hilali, Dean Faculty of Social Sciences Professor Dr Naeem ur Rehman Khattak and was attended by good number of students.