Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Thursday that the interim Taliban government should ensure that Afghan soil is not used for terrorism against any state, stressing that regional peace depends on it. Addressing the SCO Council of Heads of State Summit in Astana, Kazakhstan, he said: "The SCO member states have a shared interest in ensuring peace and stability in the region, which is a precondition for any kind of economic development." The prime minister called upon the forum to engage with the Afghan authorities and also asked the Kabul administration to ensure its role in curbing terrorism.
Shehbaz said that achieving lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan is a lynchpin to this common objective. "The international community must meaningfully engage with the interim Afghan government to help them meet their genuine economic and development needs," Shehbaz said. At the same time, he said, the Afghan government must ensure that its soil is not used for terrorism by any entity against other states.
"Recent terrorist activities have been a matter of great concern for all of us," he added. Moving on, the prime minister said that state terrorism should be condemned unambiguously as he stressed that rooting out militancy is a precondition for economic development. "Terrorism, whether committed by individuals, groups, or states, must be fought collectively in a comprehensive fashion.
" The prime minister's remarks came at the regional summit, which was also attended by India's F.
