Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) summoned a senior Pakistani diplomat on Saturday to account for remarks by Prime Minister Imran Khan speculating about a “new government” in Kabul following a prevailing peace settlement, MoFA spokesman Sebghat Ahmadi confirmed.
According to Ahmadi, the Afghan government cited the remarks a direct “interference in internal affairs of Afghanistan”, thus conveyed a serious criticism with the Pakistani diplomat.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan summoned the counsellor of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in Kabul over the recent remarks by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Mr. Imran Khan,” said Ahmadi. “We shared our serious criticism with Pakistani side. The Afghan government considers these remarks as clear and evident interference in Afghanistan’s internal affairs.”
Khan’s remarks comes on Friday when he commented peace in Afghanistan as saying it to be just “around the corner”, referring to the efforts by the United States for a political settlement to the conflict in the country.
“Negotiations have been initiated with the Taliban. God willing, our brothers in Afghanistan would live together in peace in coming days,” Khan told a big public gathering in northwestern Bajaur tribal district on the Afghan border, according to a report by the VOA.
Without elaborating further, Khan asserted that Afghanistan in its bid for peace in the country would witness peace and stability in other vital aspects of the country.
“A good government will be established in Afghanistan, a government where all Afghans will be represented. The war will end and peace will be established there,” Khan said as quoted in the VOA report.
This comes after the US Department of State said on Wednesday that the Taliban in talks with the US negotiators made meaningful progress in Qatar talks.
“We’ve received reports back from Special Representative Khalilzad that they’ve had meaningful progress,” Robert Palladino, the State Department’s deputy spokesperson, told reporters at a daily briefing in Washington on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, hours after the news broke on Qatar talks, US Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said in a tweet that he “finished a marathon rounds of talks with the Taliban in Doha”, adding some improvements on the modality of their prolonged debate took place.
Khalilzad said peace requires agreement on four issues: counterterrorism assurances, troop withdrawal, intra-Afghan dialogue, and a comprehensive ceasefire.
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