Pakistan Raises Concerns Over Afghanistan Security in Talks with Guterres
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said Muhammad Ishaq Dar, the country’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, discussed several political and security issues in the region during an official meeting with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, with a significant part of the talks devoted to Afghanistan.
According to the Pakistani Foreign Ministry, Dar stressed in the meeting that stability in Afghanistan is “vital” for regional security and that Islamabad has serious concerns about “terrorist groups using Afghan soil against Pakistan,” a concern Pakistan has repeatedly voiced in recent months.
The ministry added that Dar also shared Pakistan’s position on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute with the UN chief and, referring to the humanitarian and security dimensions of the crisis, stressed the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions as the solution to the conflict. He also briefed Guterres on the latest developments related to the Indus Waters Treaty.
According to the statement, Dar devoted part of the talks to what he described as Pakistan’s “diplomatic initiatives” to ease regional tensions, saying Islamabad had played a role in facilitating dialogue between Iran and the United States. He stressed that dialogue and mediation, in Pakistan’s view, are effective tools for preventing the escalation of crises.
The Pakistani Foreign Ministry also said the country’s deputy prime minister raised Islamabad’s position on developments in the occupied Palestinian territories and spoke of Pakistan’s “full support” for the Palestinian people’s legitimate struggle for self-determination and the creation of an independent state. He said Israel’s actions in the West Bank and Gaza were considered a “clear violation of international law.”
According to the Pakistani Foreign Ministry, in another part of the meeting Ishaq Dar called for structural reforms in the United Nations, especially the Security Council, and said the multilateral system should reflect “new global realities” and observe principles such as sovereign equality, transparency, inclusion and broad consensus.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry quoted Antonio Guterres as saying that the UN chief had thanked Pakistan for its participation in the organization’s missions and described the country’s role in mediation and regional de-escalation as “valuable and influential.”
