ALI HUSSAIN

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Tuesday cautioned the Afghan leadership that their negative statements could harm Pakistan’s positive contributions to the Afghan peace process and invited them for a dialogue on how to help the neighbouring country in dealing with the evolving situation.

In a statement and later meeting his Afghan counterpart HanifAtmar on the sidelines of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers meeting in Dushanbe, Qureshi highlighting that the negative statements could not cloud Pakistan’s positive contribution to the Afghan peace process, and that blame game would not serve the region, urged his Afghan counterpart to address all concerns through established institutional mechanisms, including APAPPS – Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity.

The foreign minister said that Pakistan looked forward to hosting a review meeting of APAPPS in Islamabad at the earliest.

Before his meeting with his Afghan counterpart, Qureshi issued a statement in which he referred to the negative statements coming from top Afghan leadership amid Taliban’s advancement in various parts of Afghanistan.