ISLAMABAD, Dec 1: Pakistan People’s Party Chairperson Benazir Bhutto has expressed concern over the ongoing war of words between Islamabad and Kabul.

“Deteriorating relations with our northern neighbour Afghanistan is not in the security interest of Pakistan”, she said in a statement issued here by the PPP media cell on Monday.

She said stability of Afghanistan was important for Pakistan as well as the whole world.

Ms Bhutto called upon Islamabad to send a special envoy to Kabul to find out the grievances of the Kabul government and discuss mechanisms to settle them. She said the envoy should take the message to Kabul that Islamabad would work on the concerns of the Karzai government.

“Kabul’s concerns must not be dismissed lightly as good relations with Karzai government is important for the well-being and progress of Pakistan as well as for regional stability”.

Ms Bhutto noted that the PPP had called upon Islamabad to severe links with the Taliban in 1998 following the murder of Iranian diplomats and Osama bin Laden’s declaration of war on America, which were made from the soil of Afghanistan.

She recalled that following 9/11, Gen Musharraf broke relations with the Taliban on American pressure. She said as a consequence of Islamabad’s distancing from the Taliban, much had been gained.

First, she added, Pakistan’s economic collapse was averted by the rescheduling of debts and as a consequence of the huge amounts of money being paid openly and clandestinely in Afghanistan and the tribal areas, Pakistan’s stock market and property market were booming.