Terrorists should be deprived of safe havens: Abdullah

KABUL (TOLO News): Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, who addressed the 5th summit of heads of state and government on Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in Tajikistan on Saturday, stressed the need for regional and global cooperation on fighting terrorism and said terrorists should be deprived of having access to safe havens.

Abdullah said terrorists should also be deprived of “tools and facilities for terror activities”.

He said that the threats coming from terrorism are still among the biggest challenges for Afghanistan and the region.

“We should increase regional and international cooperation to reach the goal because no country can solve the terrorism problem alone,” said Abdullah.

Abdullah said that security and prosperity in the region are possible only through regional cooperation.

“We should thoroughly address the challenge of poverty, population increase, climate change, corruption, armed conflicts, violent extremism, drug smuggling, weapons smuggling and the threat of terrorism,” he said.

He reiterated that all countries should work together in all sectors, especially security, to prevent the threat of terrorism.

Abdullah said Afghanistan is making utmost efforts in the quest for peace.

“We want peace and we recognize the importance of peace not only for our country but for the region and beyond,” Abdullah added.

Abdullah arrived in Tajikistan on Friday where he met with a number of leaders of the Central Asian countries on the sidelines of the CICA conference.

“We discussed bilateral relations, cooperation, peace and security developments. I thanked Rahmon for hosting the Summit and paying special attention to Afghanistan,” Abdullah tweeted after meeting the Tajikistan president.

Member states of CICA include Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

CICA membership covers about 90 percent of the territory and population of Asia. It has another 8 states and 5 international organizations, including the UN, with observer status.

CICA membership would further enhance Sri Lanka’s bilateral, economic and trade cooperation as well as people to people contacts with the other CICA Member States, the PMD said.

CICA is different from other security mechanisms which are commonly dominated by superpowers, says the PMD.

It has the characteristics of an “Asian initiative,” which values equality among members, and is led by small countries, according to the PMD.