Pakistan urges Afghanistan to capitalise on success of Zarb-e-Azb

Aziz expressed gratitude to the international community for acknowledging Pakistan's efforts in eradicating terrorism

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday urged Afghanistan to capitalise on the success of Operation Zarb-e-Azb while inviting the international community to unite in its efforts to combat terrorism.

Addressing the media in Islamabad, Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, commented on the success of Operation Zarb-e-Azb in North Waziristan along with other concerted operations in the country, while expressing gratitude to the international community for acknowledging Pakistan's efforts in eradicating terrorism.



"We expect that as we intensify our efforts to facilitate the peace process in Afghanistan, they will also capitalise on the dividends of these counter-terrorism operations to facilitate this process," he said.

Responding to a question on pertaining to the upcoming Nato Summit in Warsaw, Aziz said, "This summit is taking place under the long shadows of terrorism, turmoil and continuing conflicts."

"Within the last week alone, we have seen major terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Terrorism could only be defeated with unity and cooperation of the international community," he added.



Last week, Senator John McCain, Chairman Senate Armed Services Committee, led a four-member bipartisan, high-powered US Senate delegation, on an unprecedented visit to North Waziristan Agency where he praised Pakistan’s ‘enormous successes’ in its counterterrorism campaign, saying he was “very impressed with the progress [on the ground]”.

This was the first time that a US delegation, which also included Senator Lindsey Graham, Senator Joseph Donnelly and Senator Benjamin Sasse, travelled to the tribal agency, which was effectively run by Taliban militants and their foreign cohorts until the Pakistan Army launched a massive operation, codenamed Zarb-e-Azb, against them in June 2014.