Pakistan to attend conference on Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday announced it will be attending the conference on Afghanistan to be held in Tashkent from July 25-27 and has started making preparations in this regard. 

Delegations from over 20 countries and international organisations are expected to participate.

“I had a useful meeting with Aybek Arif Usmanov, Uzbek Ambassador to Pakistan, to discuss Tashkent International Conference on the theme Afghanistan: Security and Economic Developments," Ambassador Mohammad Sadiq, Special Representative for Afghanistan, tweeted.

Sadiq has wide-ranging experience in diplomacy, including extensive expertise on Afghanistan, where he served as Pakistan’s Ambassador from 2008-2014. The forum this month will be a continuation of the earlier Tashkent High-Level International Conference on Afghanistan “Central and South Asia: Regional Connectivity. Challenges and Opportunities” (July 15-16, 2021).

Prior to this, another conference was held on “Peace Process, Security Cooperation and Regional connectivity" (March 27, 2018). Sadiq has been constantly pushing for improving Pak-Afghan bilateral ties as Kabul is pushed into isolation with no country willing to recognise it.

“The main goal of the event is to develop a set of measures and proposals for the approaches of the world community to promote stability, security, post-conflict reconstruction in Afghanistan and its integration into regional cooperation processes in the interests of Afghan people and the whole world," said a statement from Tashkent.

Uzbek Foreign Minister Vladimir Norov, according to local media, stressed that the international community should take responsibilityfor the present and future of Afghanistan and provide continued assistance to resolve problems in the country.

“Unfortunately in Afghanistan, we are seeing a decrease in the attention of the international community to the situation in this country. Meanwhile, the situation there remains difficult due to the acute economic crisis and the difficult humanitarian situation, challenges to regional security and stability remain,” said Norov.

He echoed the views of most of those who will attend the Tashkent meeting when he said that this conference will also send a message to the Taliban to obey international laws and fulfil their commitments and implement those agreements made at earlier Tashkent conferences.

The Taliban have been unable to stop militancy inside Afghanistan and did not succeed in stopping terrorist groups like the TTP from operating inside Afghanistan while carrying out attacks on Pakistan. Rights for women appear non-existent with girls in secondary schools still deprived of a chance to continue with their education.

None of the assurances that Kabul have given at the meetings in several world capitals since they formed interim government have been adhered to, especially at a time when these world capitals have turned their focus to Ukraine with Afghanistan put on the back burner.

A delegation of the Islamic Emirate, led by the acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Amir Khan Muttaqi, will participate in the Tashkent conference. “Following an official invitation of Uzbekistan, a delegation led by Amir Khan Muttaqi and comprising members of ministries and sectorial organisations will attend, and the Islamic Emirate will express its needs. The ministers and members of the delegation will also meet with several others on the sidelines of the conference,” Bilal Karimi, deputy spokesman for the Islamic Emirate, had earlier stated.

Nazak Meer Ziyarmal, an economist in Tashkent, said in the economic area, humanitarian aid, transit, unfinished projects of Uzbekistan in Afghanistan, particularly the railway to Kabul and from Kabul to Peshawar, will be the main agendas of the conference.