Prime Minister Imran Khan has summoned two important meetings today. One is to debate national security issues and therefore the second is on the Afghanistan situation.
Federal ministers and senior military leadership will attend both meetings at PM House.
The national security meeting is going to be held at 3 pm and therefore the Afghanistan one at 5 pm. secretary of state Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Defence Minister Pervez Khattak, Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed and senior military officials will attend both meetings.
In the meeting on national security, things in Indian-held Kashmir are going to be discussed.
Important decisions concerning national security are expected to be taken, said sources.
Addressing the Islamabad Security Dialogue in March this year, PM Khan had said it’s vital to know what national security in which it’s beyond just defence.
“National security is additionally about non-traditional issues like global climate change and food security which threaten Pakistan and its overall security,” the premier had said after inaugurating Pakistan’s first-ever two-day security dialogue.
The premier said the concept of national security must be more comprehensive. “Security of the common citizen is one among the foremost important issues,” the PM had said.
The meeting on the Afghanistan situation is being held at a time when National Security Adviser Moeed Yusuf and Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General Lt Gen Faiz Hameed are within the US to debate Pak-US relations along side the Afghan crisis.
The security adviser had told the US to stay engaged with the Afghanistan situation until a political settlement is achieved.
Peace in Afghanistan and therefore the corresponding strategy of Pakistan are going to be reviewed within the meeting, sources said.
The US really messed it up in Afghanistan: Imran Khan
“I think the US has really messed it up in Afghanistan,” PM Khan had acknowledged during an appearance on PBS NewsHour, an American news programme, aired on Tuesday night.
Imran Khan said there’s no military solution to the Afghan issue but the US kept trying to “look for a military solution in Afghanistan, when there never was one”.
“And people like me who kept saying that there is no military solution, who know the history of Afghanistan, we were called — people like me were called anti-American. i used to be called Taliban Khan.”
The premier said the Americans should have sought a political settlement with the Taliban at a time once they have a substantial military presence in Afghanistan. But, now after most of the US and allied forces have already withdrawn from the country, the Taliban, considering it their victory, are in no mood to reconcile.
“But once that they had reduced the troops to barely 10,000, and then, once they gave an exit date, the Taliban thought that they had won. And so, therefore, it had been very difficult for now to urge them to compromise,” he told programme host Judy Woodruff.
Pakistan has no favourites in Afghanistan
On July 28, Imran Khan, while answering the questions of journalists from Afghanistan, said a political compromise between the Afghan government and therefore the Taliban to make an inclusive government was the sole solution to realize peace.
“We don’t have any favourites in Afghanistan. Our policy is that whoever the people of Afghanistan choose, Pakistan will have the simplest relationship with them,” the prime minister had said.
He had termed as unfortunate the recent statements from the Afghan officialdom accusing Pakistan of supporting the Taliban.
“No country has ever tried harder than Pakistan to bring the Taliban to the dialogue table — first with the Americans than with the Afghan government,” he had said and mentioned that the efforts were also acknowledged by US Special Representative Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad.
Taliban announces to focus on Afghan govt officials
The Taliban Wednesday announced to launch more attacks on the govt officials. each day earlier, the Afghan defence minister, Bismillah Mohammadi, escaped their assault in Kabul.
The Afghan and US militaries have stepped up air strikes against the insurgents, and therefore the Taliban said Wednesday the Kabul raid was their response.
“The attack is that the beginning of the retaliatory operations against the circles and leaders of the Kabul administration who are ordering attacks and therefore the bombing of various parts of the country,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said during a statement on social media.
It represents a serious escalation by the Taliban, who have largely avoided large-scale attacks within the capital since starting talks with the US on their troop withdrawal.
