NOT AGREE ON ALL AFFAIRS – by – Tazeen Akhtar

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi held wide-ranging talks with Foreign Minister , Jeppe Kofod.Mr. Qureshi briefed the Danish Foreign Minister on his interaction with his counterparts from the European countries and said that the views on both sides were largely convergent.

Recalling their earlier telephone conversations, the two Foreign Ministers had extensive exchange of views on the latest developments in Afghanistan as well as on bilateral cooperation. The Foreign Minister apprised the Danish Foreign Minister of his regional outreach on the situation in Afghanistan and to evolve a coordinated approach.

Pakistan believes that  a peaceful and stable Afghanistan is in  best interest for her as well as the region. Pakistan looks forward that the new setup in Afghanistan would make concerted efforts for peace and stability as well as work towards the betterment of all Afghan people.

The Foreign Minster emphasized the importance of international community to remain engaged with Afghanistan and support the Afghan people. There was an urgent need to provide assistance to prevent a humanitarian crisis and to take steps to ensure economic stability.

The Foreign Minister also highlighted the importance of high-level exchanges, parliamentary visits and enhanced people-to-people contacts for furthering bilateral ties.

Foreign Minister Kofod extended an invitation to the Foreign Minister to undertake a visit to Denmark, which the Foreign Minister accepted.

Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed satisfaction at the growing cooperation between the two countries. Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod called on Prime Minister Imran Khan in Islamabad on 02 Oct 2021. The Prime Minister  few days earlier had a conversation with Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Fredericksen. Both Prime Ministers had had a fruitful exchange of views on the situation in Afghanistan as well as bilateral relations.

He added that Pakistan was committed to further diversify bilateral cooperation in the areas of trade and investment and renewable energy besides increasing people-to-people contacts between the two countries. There was detailed exchange of views on Climate Change and the need for concerted efforts by the international community to mitigate its adverse effects.

The Danish Foreign Minister appreciated Prime Minister’s 10 billion tree initiative and a range of measures taken by Pakistan towards climate resilient development. The Prime Minister also underscored the significance of mobilizing scaled up and predictable international climate finance to support climate actions in the developing countries.

Foreign Minister Kofod also reaffirmed Denmark’s commitment to further strengthen bilateral ties and briefed on cooperation between the two countries, including through the proposed Green Partnership Agreement.

Prime Minister Imran Khan stressed the need for international community’s constructive engagement to prevent humanitarian crisis and economic collapse in Afghanistan and to help build durable peace and stability in the country. He underlined that an inclusive political structure was important for stability of Afghanistan. The Prime Minister stressed that positive messages and constructive measures by the international community would help prevent instability and mass exodus of refugees.

What were the issues on which the consensus between the two sides could not be developed? The details have not been shared but one can reach to a possible conclusion that most of them are related to Taliban regime in Afghanistan. European Union has already cleared that Taliban Government will not be recognized as the legitimate government in Kabul. Europe does not consider a change in the administration that has been brought militarily. Denmark wants to assure an inclusive government, established with consensus of the people of Afghanistan that maintain the human rights in the country including women rights to education and service, journalists’ freedom to write and speak at their will and last but not the least , the end of terrorism and drugs smuggling from Afghanistan to other countries. Pakistan is not in a position to make any assurance on any of these apprehensions the world community is asking for .