IEA welcomes Bhutto-Zardari’s remarks at security summit

The Islamic Emirate welcomes remarks by the Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari at Munich Security Conference deeming a peaceful Afghanistan vital for regional stability, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi tweeted Sunday.

The IEA also welcomed his remarks calling on the international community to help Afghanistan in capacity building, unfreezing Afghanistan’s assets, lifting banking restrictions and continuing humanitarian assistance to Afghans, Balkhi stated.

However, he said certain remarks were untrue. These included his remarks asserting that terrorist groups operate from Afghanistan and if not paid serious attention to by the international community, would not only be an imminent threat to Afghanistan’s neighboring countries like Pakistan but also to the West because the Afghan government lacks standing security forces.

He said the IEA has proven in practice to regional and world countries that, with professional and experienced security forces, it has not allowed anyone to use the territory of Afghanistan against others.

“It should be noted that Afghanistan’s security is now much better than many countries around the world,” he added.

“We would like to draw the attention of regional & world countries to the fact that the Islamic Emirate has taken concrete steps toward strengthening the security of Afghanistan and the region both during the occupation & after coming to power, leading to improvement in the security of not only Afghanistan but the entire region as well as thwarting past threats against regional security,” he said.

According to Balkhi, Pakistan’s recent insecurity is not new but something that has existed for the past two decades and that IEA remains determined not to allow anyone to use Afghanistan’s soil against other countries, particularly against its neighbors.

“Moreover, we advise Pakistan to discuss bilateral issues face-to-face with the Afghan government instead of complaining at international conferences,” Balkhi added.