ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Monday warned of potential spillovers from the Afghan crisis, saying the world would have to deal with a "huge mess" if its advice on the war-torn country was ignored.
Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said that the world must listen to Pakistan as "in the recent past, Pakistan's advice had not been paid heed to, and if Pakistan and the prime minister's advice was listened to, the situation would have been different.
" In an interview with TRT World, which was published by Dawn, the minister said the situation in Afghanistan was "very worrying" for Pakistan, recalling that "we had to deal with the problems when the Soviet Union left Afghanistan in 1988."
He said that while the Troika Plus, comprising Russia, China, US and Pakistan, had an important role to play in solving the Afghan conflict, the other group consisting of Turkey, Pakistan, Iran and other central Asian states too needed to take an active role to help resolve the crisis.
Chaudhry continued that Pakistan was yet again in a quagmire as the US and NATO forces were leaving Afghanistan.
He cautioned that Pakistan was already hosting 3.5 million Afghan refugees, adding "that our economy is not that strong to take more refugees".
"The way Afghanistan has been abandoned in the past and if the world repeats the same mistake, we will have a hub of extremist organisations right at the border of Pakistan which will obviously be hugely worrying for us," he cautioned.
The minister insisted that Pakistan was trying its best to stabilise the region as "we are working with regional and international powers for an inclusive government in Afghanistan."
Chaudhry said, however, that there was no refugee crisis at the moment.
"As far as migrants are concerned, because at this stage the takeover was bloodless, so there isn't a refugee crisis yet and our border is actually normal right now."
He underlined that Pakistan had a comprehensive strategy to deal with instability as "we do not want to repeat the 1977 episode as we don't want these migrants to get into Pakistan".
He stressed that arrangements will be made at the Pak-Afghan border to deal with the exodus of people.
"The world has to come to help Pakistan in that situation. Pakistan on Monday delivered WHO medical supplies to northern Afghanistan's Mazar-e-Sharif, the fourth largest city of the country which fell to the Taliban on August 14.
A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight - PK-234, carrying medical essentials from the World Health Organization (WHO) landed at the Mazar-i-Sharif Airportm the first international flight to the city after the Taliban swept Afghanistan in mid-August, state-run Associated Press of Pakistan reported.
The PIA is providing air transport for the operation while WHO will be arranging logistics on the ground.
Pakistan's Ambassador to Afghanistan Mansoor Ahmad Khan confirmed that the national flag carrier took essential medical supplies of WHO to Mazar-i-Sharif in a cargo flight.
"First PIA Cargo flight with WHO medical supplies from Islamabad to Mazar Sharif today. A humanitarian air bridge for essential supplies to Afghanistan in coordination with international agencies. Thanx PIA," he said in a tweet.
Trauma kits and emergency supplies for hospitals, as well as medicines for treating chronic malnutrition in children are among priority items for Afghanistan, where 18 million people depend on aid, a WHO official said.
Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital of Balkh province, fell to the Taliban on August 14.
The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan on August 15, two weeks before the US was set to complete its troop withdrawal after a costly two-decade war.
This forced Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to flee the country to the UAE.
The Taliban insurgents have stormed across Afghanistan, capturing all major cities in a matter of days, as Afghan security forces trained and equipped by the US and its allies melted away.
Thousands of Afghan nationals and foreigners are fleeing the country to escape the new Taliban regime and to seek asylum in different nations, including the US and many European nations, resulting in total chaos at Kabul airport and deaths.