Mushahid urges NATO to stop behaving like an occupation army in Afghanistan

Friday March 16, 2007 (0512 PST)

ISLAMABAD: General Secretary PML (Q) Mushahid Hussain Syed, Lt General Talat Masood, Canadian Senator Rayanell Andrey Chuck, Karl Lamers and Inam-ul-Haq sit on stage during a seminar on Nato’s Role in Afghanistan at Institute of Strategic Studies. Email Most Popular Print Add to Favorite Related Links Pak-NATO share common objective to ensure peace at regional, global level: Kasuri Do your fair share in Afghanistan, Nato told NATO Commanders meet with Gen. Ehsan, Ahsan Afghanistan, Pakistan, NATO open intelligence center in Kabul Hamid Gul to move SC against violation of Pakistan borders by US led coalition forces More Related News >>  Pictorial ,  No of Pictures: 1

ISLAMABAD: The Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed has urged NATO to ensure that its troops in Afghanistan do not behave like an occupation army, indiscriminately killing civilians.

Addressing a seminar organized by the Institute of Strategic Studies on "NATO`s role in Afghanistan", which was participated by the visiting NATO parliamentarians here in Islamabad, Senator Mushahid Hussain said that even President Karzai had publicly lamented that "Afghans would be killed by both terrorists and the NATO`s troops".

The Chairman, Senate Foreign Relations Committee said that Pakistan was the pivotal country, which was crucial for the security of the region including Afghanistan and it was imperative that the policies of the Western alliance should not end up destabilizing Pakistan due to wrong policies emanating from Afghanistan.

He also urged that this `blame game` be avoided and there should not be an effort to shift responsibility on Pakistan due to the mistakes made in Afghanistan.

Analyzing the situation in Afghanistan, Senator Mushahid Hussain that the real problem was that the United States had moved on to Iraq in 2002 without settling and stabilizing Afghanistan and they had outsourced the war in Afghanistan to NATO which neither had the will to win nor the stomach for a fight. He also supported the Afghan Parliament`s resolution calling for general amnesty saying that Afghanistan needed a "healing touch through national reconciliation".

He urged the NATO Parliamentary Assembly to take the initiative of promoting an inter-parliamentary dialogue between Afghanistan and Pakistan, which would be a major plus towards creating better understanding between the two neighbours. NATO parliamentarians are making their first ever visit to Pakistan at the invitation of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

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