Afghanistan’s independence must be respected: Haroon

Reaffirming the country’s commitment to strengthen ties with Afghanistan, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UN Abdullah Hussain Haroon has urged the global community to respect Afghanistan’s sovereignty.

“Long-term objectives of peace, stability and development in Afghanistan can only be realised by respecting its sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity,” the ambassador told the UN Security Council on Thursday. Haroon added that peace and economic development in Afghanistan was contingent upon a stable government in Kabul.

Taking part in the 15-nation council’s debate on the Afghanistan situation, the ambassador supported the notion of giving ownership of the challenges faced by Afghanistan to its people. He also favoured the fresh momentum for dialogue generated by the peace Jirga. The forthcoming parliamentary elections will go a long way towards strengthening democracy and governance there, Haroon said. Commenting on regional security, he said that Afghanistan’s major challenge had been insecurity driven by the insurgency and exploitation by criminals and drug traffickers; while UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon’s latest report noted no great improvement in that area over the last three months. “Security issues must be resolved without seeking to externalise the problem,” the envoy said.

Haroon further said that sustained efforts to prevent desertions and representational balance between ethnic groups would bring closer Nato’s goal of handing over security measures to the Afghan National Security Forces. Pakistan, he said, was committed to further strengthening its bilateral ties with Afghanistan in the spirit of the joint declaration on ‘Directions of Bilateral Cooperation’ signed in 2009.

In March this year, the two countries signed a joint declaration on ‘Next Steps in Comprehensive Cooperation’, he said, and stated that Pakistan’s aid package for Afghanistan is the biggest cooperation programme Pakistan has with any country.

“Bilateral trade has also steadily grown. Pakistan is also engaged in security and intelligence cooperation with Afghanistan through the Tripartite Commission,” Haroon said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 3^rd, 2010.