ISLAMABAD – Afghanistan’s ambassador to Pakistan on Wednesday called for direct dialogue to resolve security disputes between the two neighbours, rejecting military action and the use of trade and transit as political pressure.
Addressing the National Defence University in Islamabad, Sardar Ahmad Shakeeb acknowledged Pakistan’s concerns over militant threats allegedly emanating from Afghan territory, but said Kabul wanted Islamabad to provide specific information identifying individuals, networks and cases.
“Afghanistan doesn’t want its soil to be used against Pakistan,” Shakeeb said, while stressing that Pakistan’s security concerns could not justify military action on Afghan territory. He said Kabul was also ready to discuss its own security concerns directly with Islamabad.
The ambassador said the two countries were bound by geography, trade, transit and deep social ties, making their security and economic interests closely interconnected. He urged both sides to move beyond what he described as outdated perceptions of Afghanistan and recognise the new political reality that had emerged in Kabul since 2021.
Shakeeb also opposed the use of trade and transit restrictions as instruments of political pressure and warned against what he called collective punishment of Afghan citizens. He said Afghanistan had continued to develop regional economic and political partnerships despite the closure of Pakistani routes and the return of millions of Afghans.
“Afghanistan cannot change its geography. Pakistan cannot change its geography either. We will remain neighbors,” Shakeeb said. “The real question is: How will we remain good neighbors?”
He said Afghanistan was ready to pursue such a relationship as an independent state, “not from a position of weakness, dependency or confrontation.”