Situation in Afghanistan is deteriorating: Pakistan

Pakistan on Friday cautioned against the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan and urged all parties to agree on a power sharing formula to avert a looming civil war in the neighbouring country.

Addressing the Senate’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and National Security Advisor Moeed Yusuf expressed concern over the situation and hinted that Pakistan won’t be able to tackle the influx of more refugees in case the armed conflict intensified in neighbouring Afghanistan.

“It is our effort and desire that the neighbouring country does not plunge into the civil war again,” Qureshi said, adding that Pakistan wants that the dignified return of Afghan



refugees be made part of the Afghan peace process.

He said Pakistan would not be able to tackle the influx of more refugees in case the armed conflict intensified.

His remarks came in the midst of Taliban militants seizing dozens of districts in recent weeks and are now thought to control about a third of the country, ahead of the complete withdrawal of US and Western troops from Afghanistan.

Qureshi said that an important conference would be held in Uzbekistan in the coming days over the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan would highlight that peace in Afghanistan was not solely its responsibility as all its neighbours should play their roles.