BISHKEK (TCA) — Cooperation between Russia and Pakistan is important to insure stability and security in Central Asia, Pakistan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Tasnim Aslam told Sputnik news agency following her visit to Moscow, where on April 14 she participated in the fifth multinational Afghanistan peace conference.
“I met the director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Second Asian Department Zamir Kabulov and Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov while in Moscow. We had very positive and very substantive discussions. We are always happy to exchange views with Russia on the reconciliation and stabilization efforts in Afghanistan as it is in our mutual interest, because we are immediate neighbors of Afghanistan. Therefore, our cooperation, apart from our economic relations and political engagement, is also very important in the regional and global settings,” Aslam said.
The Pakistani official added that one of the biggest threats to Central Asia was the concentration of terrorists in the region. Another problem, according to Aslam, was drug trafficking.
“Afghanistan is the highest drug producer in the world… It is only logical that the Central Asian states should be at the table to discuss the future in Afghanistan and reconciliation there,” Aslam added.
She pointed out that the talks were rather fruitful, with all the participants agreeing on the idea that reconciliation was “the only way forward in Afghanistan.”
The ongoing fighting and instability in Afghanistan has turned the country into home to the largest opium poppy production and distribution network in the world.
