Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa assured a regional military chiefs' meeting in Afghanistan on Tuesday that the Pakistani territory is not allowed to be used against any other country.

The comments came amid allegations by U.S. and Afghan officials that armed opponents of the Afghan government "use Pakistan soil for attacks across the border," which is denied by Islamabad.

Bajwa made the remarks during the Chiefs of Defence Conference held in Kabul, which was attended by commander of the U.S. Central Command, commander of Resolute Support Mission (RSM) in Afghanistan and army chiefs of Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Participants agreed to continue cooperation for peace and stability in the region, according to a statement issued by Pakistani army's media wing Inter-Services Public Relations.

Bajwa reiterated that the path to regional peace and stability passes through Afghanistan.

He said that Pakistan has eliminated all terrorist sanctuaries from its soil, however, residual signatures of terrorists, who take advantage of presence of 2.7 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan and absence of effective border security coordination, are also being traced and targeted through the ongoing major operation.

Pakistan forces are currently involved in fencing its long and mostly porous border with Afghanistan to stop the illegal cross-border movement of the militants. Pakistan and Afghanistan have nearly 2,600-km border and military officials insist fencing will be completed by end 2019.

Bajwa said collaborative approach and persistence is the answer to all challenges, for which Pakistan is ready to play its part.

Source:
courtesy of XINHUA NEWS AGENCY

by Xinhua News Agency

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