Post-2014 scenario: ‘Pakistan, US can play major role in peaceful Afghanistan’

International community should understand the challenges faced by Pak: speakers.

ISLAMABAD:

The Pakistan is in negotiations with the US for the handing over of vehicles and other equipment after the latter’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2014.

This was stated by Pakistan Policy Institute Chairman Dr Gholam Mujtaba while talking at a policy discussion on ‘Afghanistan & Pakistan and Beyond:  Post 2014’ at a local hotel on Wednesday.

Urging more cooperation between the two countries, he said, “Pakistan has suffered a lot at the hands of terrorism and militancy, which took lives of over 40,000 people. Yet, the bloodshed is not over.”

Dr Mojtaba added Pakistan is facing multiple problems due to the war on terror, which stemmed from the Afghan war of 1979-89. “Back then, we saw a heavy influx of Afghan refugees, 1.6 million of whom still reside here and 12,000 of them have properly established businesses, but none of them pay taxed,” the PPI chairman claimed. He said nobody should be spared of tax as the economy is in dire straits.



Mojtaba was of the view that unrest in Pakistan would not be isolated to the region, but would affect the world.

“Pakistan should be an important factor in the reconstruction work in Afghanistan as it has suffered a lot on every front.”

PML-Zia MNA Ejazul Haq said there should be clarity and focus in the policies.

General (retd) Jamshed Ayaz, Prof Peter Bailie, and Pakistan Policy Institute Secretary General Ziaul Rahman Zabeeh discussed the role of Pakistan in beyond 2014 scenario.

They were of the view that the US leadership and the international community should understand the challenges being faced by Pakistan in the war against terror.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 27^th, 2013.