ISLAMABAD - Prime minister-in-waiting Imran Khan Thursday said that the United States had now realised that military was not the solution to the looming crisis of Afghanistan and hence there was a dire need for dialogue to resolve the decade-long standoff. Imran Khan made these remarks in his meeting with Russian Ambassador to Pakistan Alexey Dedov who called on him in Bani Gala and felicitated him over his party’s win in the General Elections 2018.
PM-designate while speaking on the importance of stability in Afghanistan said now, “peace should have had a chance and Pakistan was ready to help.”
A statement issued by PTI said that Russian Ambassador to Pakistan Alexey Dedov called on chairman PTI Thursday here at the Chairman’s Secretariat in Bani Gala. Senior PTI leaders including Dr Shehzad Waseem, Ali Zaidi, Pervaiz Khattak, Faisal Javed and Zulfi Bukhari were also present in the meeting.
Issues of mutual interest, including Pak-Russia relations, bilateral trade, economic cooperation, human rights, terrorism and stability in Afghanistan came under discussion.
Alexey Dedov lauded Pak-Russian cooperation in military joint exercises and thanked aviators of Pakistan Army for successful rescue operation of Russian trekker under severe weather conditions.
The ambassador stated that Moscow wanted to further improve bilateral relations with Islamabad and seeks engagement in economic cooperation, human rights, chemical weapons, terrorism and peace and stability in Afghanistan.
Stressing on the need to further cement bilateral ties, Alexey Dedov urged to have direct transaction communication between banks of both countries without involvement of a third country.
Chairman PTI Imran Khan thanked Russian Ambassador and said that Pakistan would like to improve relations with Russia. Imran Khan said that he wanted Russian drilling oil and gas companies to come to Pakistan.