KABUL (Pajhwok): Afghan Ambassador in the United Kingdom (UK) Syed Tayyib Jawad says he supports the government reform policy in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) but warns that sudden implementation of reforms could cause a mess.
He said it would be better to implement reforms with patience, vigilance and coordination by taking advice and insight from professional and experienced persons in the ministry.
During an exclusive interview with Pajhwok Afghan News, Jawad said Afghanistan’s foreign policy witnessed political and institutional changes in the past two decades.
Besides improvement during this period on foreign policy front, the MoFA trained some influential diplomats as well.
“I feel pride for our young and talented diplomats compared to their regional counterparts after observing their diplomatic skills in foreign meetings and events. Their skills, honesty and talent need to be further utilized,” he said.
He said foreign affairs related activities were performed by diplomatic professionals while ambassadors were tasked to maintain high level relationships.
He believed that the appointment of diplomats in Afghanistan and any other countries should be carried out fairly and ideological, ethnic and economic sides should not be considered because diplomats have a key role to play.
When asked about the reform process in the MoFA, he said there was no doubt about the importance of reforms in MoFA. Unfortunately, in the past years the reform process has been heading slowly or has stopped but sudden reforms or change could cause a mess.
He said it would be better if the reform process was carried out patiently and carefully with advices from experienced individuals of the ministry.
The Afghan envoy in the UK who in the past had served as Afghan ambassador to the US also shared his views regarding Afghanistan’s relationship with major powers of the world: “Our policy will lose its importance if exceptional regional and international policies are not taken into account. Our foreign policy priorities should be based on two principles -- one developing consensus on peace process among Afghans, agreeing on principles for possible peace agreement and ensuring human rights and the protection of past 20 years achievements while achieving honorable peace.
The second principle should be cooperation with international friends and supporting their continued assistance to the government in Afghanistan and the system.
He said in light of these two principles there was need for policy change in MoFA and other foreign policy institutions.
Jawad suggested the MoFA should be empowered so that international relations, peace process and economic cooperation could witness progress.
He added special training for a group of diplomats should be provided so they could administer the peace process and keep contact with relevant regional and international institutions.
He suggested ambassadors and high level diplomats should be allowed to establish contact with regional and local media so ideas regarding peace process could be shared and exchanged.
Jawad suggested consolidation of ties with countries who provided military and humanitarian assistance in the past two decades and urged better management of these ties.
To a question if Pakistan influences Afghan relationship with the UK, he said: “We have close political, trade and military ties with the UK and this relationship is based on joint military interest.”
Jawad said Afghan diaspora in the UK was a huge asset for Afghanistan and on the other hand Pakistan was member of the Common Wealth countries and relationship between Islamabad and London were very close.
In addition, terrorist safe havens, training camps in Pakistan and extremist elements in the country and UK mosques were a point of concern and security threat for UK, Pakistan and the world.
Referring to the role of UK in Afghan peace process, he said London was carefully pursuing the peace process between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Jawad said the UK was fully supporting the US policy of peace in Afghanistan but it stressed moderate approach in some areas while relations between Washington, Islamabad and London remained cordial and all working for peace in Afghanistan.
Nh/ma
