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Wednesday, February 19, 2025  
20 Shaban 1446  

Former interior minister shares details of army chief’s meeting with KP leaders in Peshawar

Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao says doors on talks with Afghanistan should not be closed
Kurram Operation: Is This the Solution to the Problems?- Rubaroo with Shaukat Piracha - Aaj News

Pakistan has requested a “friendly country” to talk to the interim Afghan government, Qaumi Watan Party leader Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao has quoted Chief of Army Staff General Syed Asim Munir as saying during a meeting with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa leaders earlier this week.

“The army chief also said that we have requested our friendly country to talk to the interim government of Afghanistan,” he said while appearing on Rubaroo which was aired on Aaj News on Saturday.

Sherpao, former interior minister, was asked to share details of the army chief’s recent meeting with KP leaders during his visit to Peshawar. He also attended the meeting. Representatives of several political parties were present in an almost four-hour-long meeting, media reports said.

In a separate engagement, the army chief was provided with a briefing on the security situation and the ongoing counter-terrorism operations in the province.

Since the end of the shaky ceasefire deal with the banned Fitna Al Khawarij, Pakistan has seen an increase in terrorist attacks, especially in KP and Balochistan.

In July, the government designated the outlawed TTP as Fitna Al Khawarij while mandating all institutions to use the term khariji (outcast) when referring to the perpetrators of terrorist attacks on Pakistan.

“The army chief wanted our input,” Sherpao said and added that the COAS briefed the KP leaders on the security situation, including cross border movement of terrorists from Afghanistan and steps taken to combat terrorism.

He added that all parties put forward their suggestions in the “detailed meeting”, hoping that the provincial government would follow them.

“I think such meetings should occur. It was at the province level, but it is Pakistan’s issue. We also said that the prime minister should call an all-parties conference so that everyone is on board. A detailed conversation was also held on the National Action Plan,” the QWP leader said and added that the plan was not implemented as it should have been.

When asked, the former KP chief minister said that “all options” should be used to improve the situation as Pakistan shares a 3,000km border with Afghanistan.

“I think doors on talks should not be fully closed. There should be some way, whether informal or any other, the federal government should play a role,” he said and called for finding some way out.

Sherpao called for engaging with the Afghan Taliban and building pressure over the presence of banned terrorist organisations in Afghanistan.

While speaking about the operation in Kurram, he said that it would be a “limited one” and places would be made for temporarily displaced people. Sherpao added that the banned Fitna Al Khawarij takes advantage of unrest in the district.

Defence analyst Major General (retd) Tariq Rashid Khan, who was also on the show, was of the view that terrorists’ resurgence should be a moment of retrospection for leaders.

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He also called for bringing some accountability into the system after the United States left $7 billion worth of arms in Afghanistan after troops withdrawal which is equal to Pakistan’s defence budget

In response to a question, Khan claimed that the army chief had said “A Pakistani’s life is more important for me than the whole of Afghanistan.”

He added that Pakistan has the strength to strike in Afghanistan. The defence analyst also called for putting houses to have stability. “We have to learn from our mistakes.”

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Army Chief

general asim munir

Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir

Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao