Islamabad, Feb 18 (IANS) Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on Saturday that it would not take much time for terrorism to go to other places beyond Pakistan if the interim Afghanistan government doesn’t not demonstrate the “will and capacity” to take on militant groups operating from its territory, according to a media report.
Addressing the Munich Security Conference in Germany, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman said the most important issue regarding Afghanistan in the region was the “security and terrorist threat emanating out” of the country, Dawn reported.
“The concern is that if we and the interim Afghan government don’t take these groups seriously and they don’t demonstrate the will and the capacity to take on terrorist groups, they will conduct terrorist activities in the region first — we are already witnessing an uptick in terrorist activity in Pakistan since the fall of Kabul — but it won’t be long before it reaches somewhere else,” Zardari said.
The Foreign Minister also urged the international community to act “pre-actively” rather than reactively after the “nightmare scenario”, Dawn reported.
“The key is to convince the interim government in Afghanistan with the international community’s consensus to take on terrorism within their borders and demonstrate the will to do so,” he added.
Zardari told the world leaders to find a way to build the capacity for the interim Afghan government to help it build a standing army, Dawn reported.
“They don’t have a standing army, nor a counter-terrorism force or even proper border security,” he said.
“In that situation, even if they have the will, they don’t have the capacity to deal with this [terrorist]threat which is a problem, first for the imminent neighbours and then for the international community.”
Zardari cited how “very little attention” was given to Afghanistan after the fall of Kabul and the ongoing Ukraine war.
The Foreign Minister said Pakistan did not want to “invade Afghanistan and go in after them and repeat the mistakes of the past”, so the best scenario is for the respective law-enforcing institutions in Afghanistan to become functional, Dawn reported.
–IANS
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