Qureshi returns after four countries’ tour

MOSCOW: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Wednesday returned home after his marathon four countries tours. Earlier, he held a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on his trip to Moscow, his last stop on a whirlwind four-nation tour.

The ministers talked about the revival of peace process in Afghanistan. They also discussed the bilateral relations between Russia and Pakistan and developments in the regional situation. Qureshi was received by Russian officials upon his arrival in Moscow earlier Wednesday.

Both Russia and Pakistan have been actively trying to revive the peace process in the war-torn Afghanistan. In order to kick-start direct negotiations between the Afghan Taliban and the Afghan government, Moscow had last month hosted peace talks that were attended by delegations of the Taliban the Afghan government and global stakeholders. A Pakistani delegation had also attended the peace talks.

Last week, Pakistan brokered a meeting between the United States and the Taliban in Abu Dhabi in a bid to pave the way for reviving the peace process that has remained stalled since 2015. The talks were arranged after the US President Donald Trump wrote a letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan, seeking Pakistan’s help in mending Afghan peace process.

The overture came after a patch of tense ties between the US and Pakistan since President Trump last year announced his Afghanistan and South Asia strategy in which Islamabad was accused of not acting against terrorist safe havens.

In the first two days of his three-day trip, the foreign minister visited Kabul, Tehran and Beijing where he met his counterparts and other high-ranking officials. He discussed regional peace and stability and matters of mutual interest with the three neighbours.

During his trip to Kabul on Monday, his third since he became the foreign minister in August, Qureshi met Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani. During his meetings, the foreign minister stressed the importance of peace in Afghanistan for regional stability and renewed Pakistan’s commitment to assist in the process.

With his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif on his trip to Tehran on the same day, the foreign minister discussed bilateral relations and regional situation. Both officials agreed on the importance of improved bilateral relations between the two countries.

He visited Beijing on Tuesday where he met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. The two discussed bilateral and regional issues especially peace in Afghanistan according to Foreign Office Spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal.

The US decision to pull nearly half of its troops from restive Afghanistan was high on the agenda at the meeting between the Pakistani and Chinese foreign ministers. China has not announced an official stance on the US troop pullout but Pakistan on Saturday welcomed the decision to slash US troop numbers calling it a step towards peace in war-torn Afghanistan.

Meanwhile in Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing all members of the international community are responsible for the fight against terror groups designated as such by the United Nations Security Council, including the Islamic State,

"All members of the international community are responsible as long as the matter concerns the Islamic State, Jabhat al-Nusra and all other groups linked to Al-Qaeda and designated as terrorist organisations by the UN Security Council," she said. "For a long time, Russia has been calling for forming a united front against terrorism and the initiative is still relevant," Zakharova added.

According to her, a broad international front against terrorism "would make it possible to deliver an effective blow to terrorists not only in Syria but in other hotspots as well." "The international community has all mechanisms to legitimize this kind of cooperation, it just needs to show political resolve," the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman stressed.

The United States has made a right decision to reduce the number of troops in Afghanistan but there is a need to wait and see what steps Washington finally takes, Zakharova said. "We have taken note of the US authorities’ statements about pulling about half of troops out of Afghanistan. We consider it to be a step in the right direction, which may help pave the way to a peace process. We just need to wait and see what practical form it takes because we already heard many promises that Americans eventually failed to fulfill," she said.

Zakharova pointed out that Russia had on numerous occasions warned the US and other members of the US-led coalition in Afghanistan that they were wrong to bet on the use of military force to resolve the Afghan issue and pointed to "the need to employ political and diplomatic methods to launch an inclusive peace process in the country."

"Today we see that the reality has made Washington step up efforts to end the military standoff and launch political dialogue between the opposing Afghan parties," the Russian diplomat went on to say. In this regard, she mentioned recent talks involving the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan and the Taliban movement (outlawed in Russia), which took place in Abu Dhabi. "We welcome these efforts and believe it is important to make them transparent and also take the Afghan people’s interests into account, as well as the interests of the neighboring countries, which have been facing threats emanating from Afghanistan," Zakharova added.

US President Donald Trump earlier ordered the Pentagon to make preparations for pulling about 7,000 US troops out of Afghanistan. According to the Wall Street Journal, the withdrawal would begin within the next few weeks. A number of countries have participated in talks on resolving the Afghan issue, which also involved the Taliban movement. On December 17-18, Abu Dhabi hosted a meeting between the Taliban and the United States, while Saudi Arabia and Pakistan also participated. –