Army hopes Afghan soil will not be used against Pakistan, reiterates support for peace

The Army leadership on Tuesday expressed hope that Afghan soil will not be used against Pakistan as the top brass noted the increase in cross-border attacks against Pakistani forces and the regrouping of terrorist outfits across the Pak-Afghan border.

Reaffirming Pakistan's support for regional peace and stability, the attendees of the 241st Corps Commanders Conference reiterated that the country has taken effective border control and management measures and the same is expected from Afghanistan to "deny any space to spoilers of peace".

During his May 11 visit to Kabul, Chief of the Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa had assured the Afghan leadership of Pakistan’s support for “inclusive power-sharing arrangement” and “elections as a right of Afghans to self-determination”.

The visit came just days after US and other international forces started withdrawing from Afghanistan.

Since the beginning of the drawdown, which is set to complete by September 11, there has been a sudden spike in violence in Afghanistan and an increase in cross border attacks on Pakistani forces.

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) also stated that the forum took a comprehensive review of global, regional and domestic security environment, with the situation along the Line of Control (LoC) and the Working Boundary also coming under discussion. The army chief "expressed satisfaction over Army’s operational readiness in view of the emerging security threats".

The Army high command also reviewed the situation in the recently merged districts of KP and Balochistan, added the ISPR.

The forum stressed upon fast-paced socio-economic development of these areas to capitalise on the hard-earned peace and to bring stability after the country's security forces cleared the areas of militants during successive military operations over the years.

In regards to the Covid-19 pandemic, Gen Bajwa appreciated the "all-out support" from military formations to the civil administration amidst the ongoing third wave of the pandemic which contributed to a significant reduction in the spread of the disease.

The government of Prime Minister Imran Khan had earlier sanctioned the deployment of Army personnel in order to aid the civil administration in enforcing SOPs in the towns and cities of the country.

In the earlier meeting with President Ghani, the army chief reiterated that a peaceful Afghanistan means a peaceful region in general and a peaceful Pakistan in particular. “We will always support Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process based on mutual consensus of all stakeholders.”

Anti-Pakistan elements continue to use the Afghan soil for carrying out terrorist activities inside Pakistan. Islamabad is building the fence along its 2,640km long border with Afghanistan so as to check the smuggling of goods and weapons and deny the cross-border movement of terrorists and other criminals.

The work on the border barrier has continued uninterrupted over the past four years despite the threat of deadly attacks and Islamabad has repeatedly asked Kabul to rein in the organised terrorist groups operating from its soil.