Tehran, Jan 9, IRNA – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif hasexpressed Iran’s readiness in working with Pakistan to fight extremistgroups.
Speaking to Indian media ‘NDTV’, on Wednesday, Zarif said, ‘We cannot beprisoners of the past’. ‘We disagreed with Pakistan in the 90s when theycreated the Taliban or helped create the Taliban. We were the first tooffer victims to suffer in the hands of the Taliban – 11 of my colleagueswere murdered by the Taliban, but we cannot be prisoners of the past.’
‘We need to work for a better future and Iran is ready to work withPakistan in order to realize what the Pakistani leaders have been tellingus that they believe fighting extremist groups is in their nationalsecurity interest and we believe analytically that that is the case,’ headded.
He went on to say, ‘We believe that Pakistani position on Afghanistan isevolving and we believe that Pakistan now is trying to play a positive rolein getting a peace process underway in Afghanistan.’
‘I understand that the Pakistanis also do not wish to see an Afghanistandominated by extremist groups… but for Pakistan it is an existentialthreat. Extremism in Pakistan and Afghanistan is an existential threat forPakistan,’ he reiterated.
In response to a question on India concerns over terror groups inAfghanistan, Zarif said, ‘I think it would be impossible to have a futureAfghanistan without any role for the Taliban. But we also believe that theTaliban do not have – should not have a dominant role in Afghanistan. Ofcourse at the end of the day that is the decision that the Afghans need tomake.’
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Elaborating on the impact of US unilateral sanctions on India oil importsfrom Iran, Iranian Foreign Minister said, ‘We have been able to engage witheach other even under more difficult circumstances and I am confident thatIran and India will find – particularly our private sector – will findpossibilities to evade this illegal measures. Let’s remind ourselves thatthese are illegal measures. We are not trying to evade law; we are tryingto evade lawlessness, we are trying to evade bullying.’
Zarif is in India to attend Raisina Dialogue which is a multilateralconference held in New Delhi annually.
Since its inception in 2016, the conference has emerged as India’s flagshipconference on geopolitics and geo-economics.
