Inclusive government in Afghanistan key to regional stability

At a meeting in Islamabad this week, Pakistan and Tajikistan leaders discussed regional and international issues and said it was important to establish an inclusive government in Afghanistan.

According to a joint statement, the leaders of two countries, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif and Tajikistan’s President Imam Ali Rahman agreed, in the case of Afghanistan, that “a peaceful, prosperous, interconnected and stable Afghanistan is essential for regional prosperity and progress, and establishment of inclusive governance important for Afghanistan.”

The two countries also vowed to enhance bilateral cooperation in the fields of energy, rail and road connectivity, trade, investment, agriculture and culture and they pledged to complete the long-awaited Central Asia-South Asia (CASA-1000) power project to meet energy needs.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari told PBS that he has been advocating for the world to engage with Afghanistan. “It is something that I have been insisting on, because I believe we shouldn’t repeat the mistakes of the past.

“The last time in Afghanistan posted the — sort of the Cold War jihad, et cetera, the world up and left. And that left us with more problems and resulted in having to go back all over again,” he said.

On the issue of women’s rights and women’s education in Afghanistan, he said Pakistan believes “that women have a right to education and a right to equal space in society at all levels.

“We’re proud of the fact that Pakistan elected the first Muslim — female Muslim prime minister. These are examples for us. In the Afghanistan context, obviously, we encourage them to do the same for Afghan girls. And this is a commitment that they have made with the international community, with their own people, and with everybody else,” he said.