The US will withdraw its troops stationed in Afghanistan by September 11. Regarding this, Pakistan says that after the withdrawal of troops, the Taliban can take control of the country.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi
US Troops are withdrawing from Afghanistan. In such a situation, the discussion has intensified that the Taliban will occupy Afghanistan after the withdrawal of America. At the same time, due to this there has been a lot of stir in Pakistan. Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that if the Taliban occupied Kabul after the withdrawal of US troops, we will close the border with Afghanistan in the national interest.
Shah Mehmood Qureshi said, we have to close our borders. We have to protect our national interest. Qureshi claimed that the Taliban caused havoc in Afghanistan, due to which Pakistan gave place to 3.5 million Afghan refugees. But now we cannot give shelter to more people. Significantly, President Joe Biden announced in April that the US would withdraw its troops stationed in Afghanistan by September 11. After the attack on the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, the US entered Afghanistan to eliminate Al-Qaeda.
Imran also talked about closing the border
This statement of the Pakistani Foreign Minister has come at a time when Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan recently told reports that if the Taliban capture Afghanistan, then we will close the border with it, the Durand Line. Imran had said that what if the Taliban tries to capture Afghanistan through the army? Then we will seal the border because now we can do that. We have put a fence on our border. Earlier it was open, because we did not want to get into conflict. We don’t want a large population of refugees again,
Pakistan-Afghanistan dispute over Durand Line
The Durand Line separating Pakistan and Afghanistan has become a contentious issue for both the countries ever since Pakistan started fencing it during Imran’s tenure. Afghanistan claims that this geopolitical boundary drawn by British colonial administrator Sir Henry Mortimer Durand in 1893 has no legal sanctity. Pakistan on its part hopes that this 2,640-km-long fenced border will help stop the refugee flow of ethnic Pashtuns into the country if the Taliban comes to power.
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