KABUL – A large number of Afghan dignitaries including ministers, members of the Parliament, business community and representatives from embassies attended a Pakistan’s national day reception, held in the Pakistan Embassy here.
Addressing the participants, Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani said that both Pakistan and Afghanistan had been facing the challenge of terrorism and they required to jointly fight the menace. He stated that both countries were bonded by geography, culture, religion and history and it was essential to further promote and strengthen bilateral relations for the mutual benefit of the two neighbouring countries.
He felicitated the government of Pakistan on behalf of the people and the government of Afghanistan on its national day. The minister condemned the suicide attack that recently took place in Lahore, resulting in loss of innocent human lives. He also expressed his gratitude to the government of Pakistan for hosting Afghan refugees for a long time.
Speaking on the occasion, Pakistan Ambassador to Afghanistan, Syed Abrar Hussain said that it was highly imperative to build a multi-pronged and dynamic Pak-Afghan relationship which is befitting to the traditions and values of the two sides.
He said that Pakistan wanted to promote cooperation with Afghanistan. “Peace and Stability in Afghanistan would ensure peace and stability in Pakistan, the region and the world” he added. The ambassador lauded the immense progress made by Afghanistan in the past 14 years, saying it has started to emerge as a stable democracy, is continuing to develop a resilient security force, and is visualising a reformative economic agenda as goals for the Transformation Decade.
The ambassador went on to say that the vision of Pakistani leadership hinged on close and cooperative relations with Afghanistan for which Pakistan had made serious efforts especially since the National Unity Government (NUG) took charge in Afghanistan in September 2014.
He informed the participants that Pakistan had made abundantly clear that peaceful, stable and economically developed Afghanistan was in its vital national interest. Hussain stated that Pakistan and Afghanistan faced many challenges which can be overcome by forging a multi-faceted cooperative relationship by the two sides. He also underlined the need for taking joint efforts to fight terrorism, poverty, hunger and disease. At the end, he thanked all participants for attending the reception.
