Photo: DAWN News Agency

Pakistan, Tajikistan Vow to Boost Bilateral Ties and Combat Terrorism

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Pakistan and Tajikistan recently pledged they would strengthen bilateral trade and connectivity with the former calling on joint efforts to combat the threat of terrorism.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met Tajik President Emomali Rahmon in Dushanbe on a two-day official visit on Tuesday, July 2. Sharif announced that many memorandums of understanding (MoUs) were signed between the two nations in a bid to foster bilateral ties while addressing a press conference in the capital of Tajikistan.

The strategic partnership, he said, will “go a long way in furthering our brotherly ties and expanding our scope of cooperation,” adding Islamabad is keen to closely work with Dushanbe to promote agriculture, education, health, and other investment projects and trade.

Pakistani PM called the transportation of goods from the port of Karachi to Tajikistan via Afghanistan an “area of huge economic importance.”

He stated Pakistan would welcome the opportunity to be a part of the China, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan trade corridor project as “it would broaden the multilateral trade” in the region.

He also mentioned that both countries have exempted official passports from visa requirements.

Pakistani PM reassured Tajik President that CASA-1000, an ambitious power transmission project from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan passing through Afghanistan to Pakistan, would be completed next year, bringing prosperity to this region.

Moreover, the visiting premier stressed that the two neighboring countries, which share long, porous borders with Afghanistan, are “victims of terrorism.”

“Pakistan has faced the menace of terrorism for long years, paying huge price in terms of human lives and economic loss,” he told the presser along with his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rahmon. “The country has made significant sacrifices in the war against terrorism.”

Although, the Pakistani PM said, Pakistan “defeated” the threat of terrorism by 2017, it has resurged in recent years. He further reaffirmed that Islamabad wants to eliminate terrorism through joint efforts with Tajikistan.

“Because if we do not restore peace in the region progress will not happen,” he added.

Both Islamabad and Dushanbe have frequently complained that transnational militant groups have increased cross-border terrorist attacks using safe havens in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover in 2021.

Recently, Pakistani Ambassador to the UN Munir Akram called on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to take decisive action against terrorism in Afghanistan, underscoring the “threat of allowing terrorists to operate in the region with impunity.”

Akram stressed that peace and prosperity cannot be realized in the region as long as terrorist groups like the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) remain active.

Cross-border attacks have considerably increased in Pakistan resulting in hundreds of civilian and military casualties, TTP claiming responsibility for plotting much of the attacks.

While Islamabad has repeatedly called on the Taliban to rein in the TTP, the Taliban deny accusations they shelter or allow foreign militants to operate and threaten neighboring countries using Afghanistan’s soil.