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Pakistan won’t allow foreign troops: Qureshi

* FM tells UNSC Afghanistan should contribute to enhance mutual co-operation
* Says Afghanistan’s stability in Pakistan’s interest

UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan will not permit its soil to be used against other countries nor would it allow foreign troops to operate inside the Pakistani territory, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told the UN Security Council on Thursday, rejecting a standing US offer of military assistance also intended to help Afghanistan.

“We can assure greater success in containing terrorism and insurgency on both sides of the border through more effective co-operation and matching military measures. This is a joint responsibility,” he said as the 15-member council debated the situation in Afghanistan.

“We are prepared to consider suggestions to enhance the effectiveness of such co-operation,” the foreign minister added.

Contribution: At the same time, he said Pakistan’s partners, especially Afghanistan, could also contribute to enhance operational co-operation by undertaking measures such as expansion in military deployments and checkposts on the Afghan side of the border to match Pakistan’s 100,000 military personnel and 1,200 checkposts, real-time intelligence sharing, caution in the use of artillery and aerial attacks, supply of counter-insurgency equipment requested by Pakistan, more effective check of the 40,000 daily legal crossings, and relocation of Afghan refugee camps close to the border from Pakistan to controlled sites in Afghanistan.

More needed to be done to overcome suspicion and distrust, Qureshi said. Initial steps could include declaring mutual respect for each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, avoidance of provocative statements and the revival and reinvigoration of the jirga process, he said, adding that the Ankara Process as well as the Afghanistan-Iran-Pakistan tripartite co-operation should be supported.

He said Pakistan supported the central co-ordinating role of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan in accordance with its mandate.

Stability: Peace and stability in Afghanistan were in Pakistan’s vital interest as the two countries faced the common threat of extremism and terrorism, Qureshi said. “Peace and stability are essential to enable Pakistan and Afghanistan to serve as the hub and corridor for trade and economic cooperation between the dynamic regions of South Asia, Central Asia, China and the Gulf region,” he said. Apart from the Afghan people, he added, the people of Pakistan had suffered the most from the decades of conflict in Afghanistan. agencies

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