Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain on September 16 said that Pakistan in line with the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan, wanted to expand China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to Central Asian States (CASs), even before the issue of Afghanistan.
Talking to media in Dushanbe, he expressed the hope that the situation in Afghanistan would improve. Pakistan was offering access to Gwadar port, a strategic component in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), to landlocked Central Asian countries in the hope of stimulating activity, he said.
Under the Trans-Mazar-e-Sharif Train and Road Network project with Uzbekistan, he said Pakistan wanted to connect Gwadar and Karachi via Mazar-e-Sharif, first to Tashkent and then to Dushanbe and Kazakhstan.
He said after completion of the projects all Central Asian states (CASs) would be connected by train and road changing the entire regional scenario. Prime Minister Imran Khan discussed Afghan situation in his meeting with President of Kazakhstan.The prime minister was of the opinion that Afghanistan would either move towards stability of complete chaos.
“If the world inks an agreement with the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan, it will not only benefit Afghanistan but the entire world,” he said adding leaving Afghanistan in the lurch right now would create problems, he concluded.
