National Security Committee has expressed deep disappointment over the recent statements by US President Donald Trump and reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to playing constructive role for regional peace.
This resolve came during the meeting of National Security Committee chaired by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in Islamabad.
The committee reaffirmed that Pakistanis are capable of defending their country and have demonstrated exceptional commitment to counter terrorism.
The committee reached a consensus that despite all unwarranted allegations Pakistan cannot act in haste and will remain committed to playing a constructive role towards an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process.
The NSC observed that Pakistan could not be held responsible for the collective failure in Afghanistan and that blaming allies certainly did not serve the shared objective of achieving lasting peace in Afghanistan and the region.
The Committee observed that the recent statement’s and articulation by American leadership are completely incomprehensible as they contradicted facts manifestly and struck with great insensitivity at the trust between the two countries. The statement negated the decades of sacrifices by Pakistani nation for regional and global peace.
It said that Pakistan’s counter-terrorism campaign had served as a bulwark against possible expansion of scores of terrorist organizations currently present in Afghanistan. The fact acknowledged by the US authorities at the highest levels. Most of these terrorists have repeatedly launched cross border attacks against innocent Pakistanis with impunity by exploiting presence of millions of Afghan refugees in Pakistan.
The Committee observed that Pakistan had fought the war against terrorism primarily out of its own resources and at a great cost to its economy and the loss of tens of thousands of lives of Pakistani civilians and security personnel.
It reaffirmed that Pakistan is firmly supporting the US-led international effort in Afghanistan and as a result of Pakistan’s counter-terrorism cooperation, Al-Qaeda had been decimated from the region.
The Committee said that the real challenges in Afghanistan are political infighting, massive corruption, phenomenal growth of drug production and expansion of ungoverned spaces inside Afghanistan full of sanctuaries for multiple international terrorist organizations, posing a serious threat to the entire region.
