Afghan envoy says Kabul will not allow Afghan soil to be used against Pakistan

Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Pakistan, Sardar Ahmad Shakeeb, has reaffirmed Kabul’s position that Afghan territory will not be used against Pakistan, while calling for greater direct engagement between the two neighbouring countries on their shared security concerns.

Speaking at Pakistan’s National Defence University in Islamabad, Shakeeb said Afghanistan and Pakistan are closely connected by geography, shared communities, trade, transit and security, meaning developments in either country have a direct impact on the other.

He described the relationship as both a challenge and an opportunity for regional stability and stronger economic cooperation, and urged both sides to move beyond what he called outdated assumptions about each other’s current realities.

Shakeeb said a new political reality has emerged in Kabul since 2021 and stressed that Afghanistan does not want its territory to be used against Pakistan.

At the same time, he said Afghanistan cannot accept Pakistan’s security concerns being used to justify military action on Afghan territory.

The ambassador said Kabul understands Pakistan’s concerns over potential security threats originating from Afghanistan, but argued that such allegations should be specific and supported by concrete information, including details of individuals, networks and specific cases.

Shakeeb also said that if Pakistan expects Afghanistan to cooperate in addressing its security concerns, Kabul wants Islamabad to engage directly with Afghanistan over its own security concerns.

He called for continued dialogue and cooperation between the two countries, saying their close ties make constructive engagement essential to addressing security, political and economic challenges.