Islamabad: Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran have unveiled a roadmap to jointly confront the challenges of extremism and terrorism in the region, including trilateral intelligence sharing and greater cooperation in tackling the trafficking of weapons and drugs.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and his Iranian and Afghan counterparts, Manouchehr Mottaki and Rangin Dadfar Spanta, yesterday signed a joint declaration envisaging the roadmap after a meeting here.
Qureshi told a joint news conference at the Foreign Office that the three countries will hold a series of meetings to deepen cooperation and coordination for countering extremism and terrorism.
The three countries will "supplement national counter-terrorism efforts through trilateral intelligence sharing and greater coordination and cooperation at the operational plane," the joint declaration said.
They also committed themselves to greater cooperation to "interdict trafficking of narcotics and precursors, arrest cross-border illegal flow of weapons and check trans-national organised crime by... strengthening national capacities to address these challenges."
Pakistan and Iran agreed to support the "Afghan national process of promoting national reconciliation and reintegration in accordance with the constitution of Afghanistan" and the three sides said "any initiative in this regard must be Afghan-led and Afghan-driven".
Mottaki described the situation in Afghanistan as a "regional problem" and said a "solution must be found in the region".
This did not mean that the new move "is against any other initiative, meeting or coordination about the situation in Afghanistan", he said and cautioned that there should be "no repeat of failed policies" or the adoption of "only a military-based approach".
He also hinted that there could be a long-term "regional arrangement to replace foreign troops" in Afghanistan. Qureshi indicated that Pakistan had raised its concerns about India`s growing influence in Afghanistan.
Spanta, while responding to a question on the issue, made it clear that Afghanistan will not allow its soil to be used for activities directed against another country but said
Kabul should be kept out "out of tensions" between its neighbours.
"Afghanistan will never allow other countries to use its territory against neighbours or other countries. This includes India and is a general principle for Afghanistan," Spanta said.
He said countries in the region should "accept the difficult situation" in Afghanistan and "keep it out of tensions" between them.
The three nations agreed to set up a "Joint Committee of National Coordinators" headed by their deputy foreign ministers to oversee the implementation of the new roadmap.
The second summit of the three sides and a meeting of their Interior Ministers will soon be held in Islamabad. The Finance and Commerce Ministers of the three countries will meet in Kabul before the trilateral summit while a meeting of security and intelligence chiefs will be held in Tehran.
A meeting of Foreign Ministers of Afghanistan and its six contiguous neighbours will also be held in Tehran. Dates for these meetings will be worked out through diplomatic channels, Qureshi said.
"It is important for the three countries to consult and have closer positions on the situation that can confront us," Qureshi said.
PTI
