Pakistan asks US to ensure return of Afghan refugees: Asif

• FM asks Afghanistan to focus on border management

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Foreign Affairs Khawaja Muhammad Asif has demanded the United States to ensure the return of Afghan refugees from Pakistan.

Talking to a private TV channel, he said that Pakistan had launched fencing for securing its border with Afghanistan because it was imperative for combating terrorism. He said that Afghanistan should focus on the border management and fulfill its responsibility in that regard.

Expressing serious concerns over the situation in neighbouring country, he said that the allied forces equipping with modern weapons and thousands of soldiers could not establish peace in Afghanistan. According to the information and reports, the groups of Daesh were operating in eight to nine provinces of Afghanistan, he said.

Foreign Minister Asif said that the militant groups were also active in vast areas of Afghanistan. Expressing dismay over peace situation in Afghanistan, he said that a huge part was not under the control of the Afghan government. He said that Pakistan had extended a lot of cooperation with the US on different occasion in past but “our country had to face huge losses rather than benefit.”

Some foreign forces did not want to see Pakistan as a powerful state but Pakistan could not be intimated with threats of any country, he said, adding that Pakistan armed forces were fully capable to defend the motherland. Nearly 9,000 ton opium was being cultivated in Afghanistan, which was an alarming situation, he said. It was strange that a huge cache of narcotics amounting $150 billion was being smuggled from Afghanistan in the presence of the allied forces.

Khawaja Asif said that the US had failed to establish peace in Afghanistan. He said that the US was blaming Pakistan after its failure in Afghanistan. He said that Pakistan had asked the US to provide actionable information but no such information were being provided to our country. Voicing concerns over the Kashmir situation, he said that India was involved in the massive human rights violations and killing of Kashmiri people.