Thousands of foreign and Afghan nationals — since the Taliban's lightning takeover of Afghanistan on August 15 — have been evacuated from the country, with Pakistan also operating special flights for repatriating its citizens and people of other nationalities.
The foreign minister, addressing a press conference in Islamabad, said 542 foreign nationals were evacuated to Pakistan today, while more than 3,000 foreigners have been brought to Islamabad to date.
FM Qureshi said the world was focused on Pakistan after the turmoil that had taken place in Afghanistan, as he assured the world community that Islamabad aspired nothing more than peace in Kabul.
'Safe evacuations from Afghanistan are important'
Changes are taking place in Afghanistan's situation every day, FM Qureshi said, adding he had spoken to his Danish, Swedish, Turkish, and Belgian counterparts on the matter.
"Safe evacuations from Afghanistan are important."
The foreign minister said he spoke to his Saudi counterpart earlier in the day, who had asked him to shift the Kingdom's diplomats from Kabul to Pakistan.
There is pressure on the Kabul airport, but the overall situation in Afghanistan is evolving rapidly, he said, adding the situation in the country's capital was better.
Officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other institutions have been given access to the monitoring cell established in the Ministry for Interior, he said.
The foreign minister said a crisis management unit had been set up in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"The international community should remain in contact with the Afghan Taliban," he added.
Moving on, he hoped that the Afghan soil would not be used by the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to launch attacks in Pakistan.
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