KARACHI: While terming the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) session ‘positive’ with ‘positive outcomes’, Afghanistan’s acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said on Monday all participants at the conference spoke in favour of Afghanistan.
Mr Muttaqi, who had addressed the OIC session on Afghanistan, upon returning to Kabul from Islamabad disapproved of ex-president Hamid Karzai’s statement rebuking Prime Minister Imran Khan for attributing the prevalent Afghan situation to years of ‘corruption’ by past governments, according to Dawn.com.
The prime minister had made the remarks while addressing the 17th extraordinary session of the OIC’s Council of Foreign Ministers in Islamabad on Sunday. He also said that Pakistan faced the threat of the militant Islamic State (IS) group from Afghanistan’s soil.
Disapproves of Karzai’s rant against Imran’s remarks
Reacting to the premier’s remarks, Mr Karzai described the statements as “an attempt to sow discord among Afghans, and an insult to the Afghan people”. He tweeted that the government of Pakistan should “strictly refrain from propagating against Afghanistan and interfering in our internal affairs”. He stated Pakistan should avoid speaking on behalf of Afghanistan on international forums and instead work for creating “civilised relations” between the two countries.
About Mr Khan’s concern over the IS threat originating from Afghan soil, Mr Karzai called it a part of ‘clear propaganda’, stating “the reality has been the opposite”. “The threat of IS has been directed from Pakistan against Afghanistan from the very outset,” he added.
Talking to reporters in Kabul, the Afghan foreign minister disapproved of Karzai’s statement and declared that he did not find anything “insulting” about Prime Minister Imran Khan’s remarks. “I do not see anything insulting about Imran Khan’s remarks that needs an official response. It was a positive conference and there are positive outcomes so we should not take it negatively,” Mr Muttaqi added.
“What’s of significance is that Imran Khan slammed former Afghan governments,” he said, adding that he believed “officials from the past governments were compelled to show some reaction”.
About the OIC session, he said different views and opinions were shared and every person was responsible for what they said. “[But more] importantly, all participants at the conference spoke in favour of Afghanistan.”
Muttaqi’s remarks were posted on the official Facebook page of Afghanistan’s state media.
Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2021
