The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has expressed hopes that the United States government will soon resume the resettlement of Afghan refugees as previously promised.

Addressing a routine press briefing on Thursday, MoFA spokesperson Ambassador Shafqat Ali Khan said Pakistan has taken note of the US executive order stopping the resettlement of refugees. However, he said that the program would hopefully be resumed soon.

Khan said that around 80,000 refugees have already been settled abroad while 40,000 are still in Pakistan awaiting resettlement to US and other countries.

“We are hopeful that the program would be restarted so that the remaining Afghan refugees could be resettled in the US as per commitments given by the US government,” Khan said.

The spokesperson added that Pakistan has ample proof of weapons left behind by United States forces being used for terrorism in Pakistan and that these concerns have been recently been raised with Kabul.

He added that the primary responsibility to make sure that these weapons are not used against Pakistan lies with the Afghan government.

“In our view, the primary responsibility is of the Kabul administration. They have to ensure that the sanctuary is not enjoyed by terrorists. This has to stop. This is what I can say,” Khan said.

“…right now, the issue is that weapons were left in Kabul, and they are under control of TTA as they have taken over the state,” he added.

However, the spokesperson did not comment on reports of families of Tehreek-e-Taliban fighters being relocated in Pakistan.

Responding to a question about the education of women in Afghanistan, Khan said Pakistan has always called for ‘universally recognized norms in terms of the female education’ to be respected in Pakistan. He also mentioned that Pakistan has set aside scholarships for Afghan students including females.

“But from our side, what I can convey to you, we have this Allama Iqbal scholarship program. One third of the 4500 scholarships are reserved for females. So that’s our approach,” Khan said.

However, he added that the matter is one for Afghanistan to solve internally.

“But in essence, it remains an internal matter to Afghanistan, which we hope sees a positive evolution in terms of their approach and policy on this matter.”

However, the Interim Afghan Government rejected the concerns of Pakistani officials regarding US military equipment left behind after the withdrawal.

IAG’s Deputy Spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat said that all the military equipment and weapons are under the control of the government.

He further said that no country should have concerns about the weapons.