Pakistan wants peace, stability in Afghanistan, says Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif

Islamabad: Pakistan wants peace and stability in Afghanistan and will contribute to initiatives to achieve that, Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif said, a day after Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani called for normalising bilateral ties. [caption id=“attachment_2572718” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Khawaja Muhammad Asif. AFP[/caption] Ghani said on Friday that Afghanistan was “ready for comprehensive political talks. Peace with Pakistan is in our national agenda.” The Afghanistan-Pakistan ties have largely remained tensed over the issue of cross-border terrorism. The two countries have a long-running border dispute, leading to skirmishes between their armies. “Pakistan’s position on Afghanistan is very clear: we want to see peace and stability in the country,” Asif was quoted as saying Dawn newspaper. Asif said Pakistan will contribute and play its due role in all the initiatives taken to bring peace to Afghanistan. “We already have bilateral, trilateral, quadrilateral and multilateral mechanisms for dialogue and interaction with Afghanistan in place. Those mechanisms should be utilised to their full potential,” he said. He said both sides recognise the need for cooperation on all fronts — political, military and intelligence. The public exchange between the two countries also came after the US declared its new Afghan strategy, leaving the option open to deploy more American troops in the war-torn country.