ISLAMABAD – The Russian Foreign Ministry has spoken over the issue ofcounter terrorism cooperation with Pakistan.
FO clarified a statement by a minister over movement of Daesh terroristsinto Tajikistan from the surrounding region.
Russian Deputy Interior Minister Igor Zubov earlier this week said thatunidentified helicopters transported a large number of Daesh terroristsfrom ‘Pakistan’ to the Tajikistan border, close to Russia’s southernborders.
Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, in a pressbriefing on Thursday, termed the remark as a ‘slip of the tongue’ andimplied that the minister meant to say Afghanistan instead of Pakistan.
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“We saw those statements, those quotes,” Zakharova clarified. “I thinkthey’re just a slip of the tongue because the [Daesh] combatants are beingcarried to the borderline between Afghanistan and Tajikistan from theAfghan territory, and we cooperate closely with Pakistan in fightingterrorism as well as on the Afghan agenda, and we share common concernsregarding [Daesh] gaining momentum on the territory there and the extentand full expansion of that terrorist group.”
Earlier this week, Special Representative of the Russian President onAfghanistan, Ambassador Zamir Kabulov called on Foreign Minister ShahMehmood Qureshi at the Foreign Office in Islamabad.
