ISLAMABAD – Pakistan stressed on Thursday that the withdrawal of foreigntroops from Afghanistan should coincide with the progress in the peaceprocess.

Foreign Office Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri stated this in responseto the statement of US President Joe Biden announcing that the withdrawalof U.S. troops from Afghanistan will start on 1 May 2021 and will becompleted by 11 September 2021.

“Pakistan has been consistently supporting and facilitating the efforts fordurable peace and stability in Afghanistan. We believe there is no militarysolution to the conflict in Afghanistan and a negotiated political solutionthrough an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned process is important for lastingpeace and stability in Afghanistan,” the FO statement read.

Towards this end, the U.S.-Taliban Agreement of 29 February 2020 laidfoundation for a comprehensive intra-Afghan peace agreement including apermanent ceasefire for bringing an end to violence in Afghanistan.

“We hope that the forthcoming meeting of Afghan leadership in Turkey wouldbe an important opportunity for Afghans to make progress towards anegotiated political settlement.

“In this regard, we support the principle of responsible troop withdrawalin coordination with Afghan stake-holders. We also hope the U.S. willcontinue to urge the Afghan leaders to seize this historic opportunity forachieving a political settlement in Afghanistan.”

“Pakistan has consistently reiterated that peace and stability inAfghanistan is in our interest. Pakistan reaffirms its abiding commitmentfor a peaceful, stable, united, democratic, sovereign and prosperousAfghanistan,” Chaudhri added.