UNITED NATIONS, Sept 25: Pakistan on Friday called on the international community in general and the Islamic world in particular to continue to maintain its support for humanitarian relief and refugee repatriation in Afghanistan.

Addressing the Organization of Islamic Conference's contact group on Afghanistan, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Pakistan Makdoom Khusro Bakhtiar noted that "there are still millions of Afghan refugees living in neighbouring countries who, now more than ever, deserve complete and sustained support from the international community to allow them to return to their homes in security and dignity."

He pointed out that inspite of resource constraints, "Pakistan is trying to do all it can to help Afghanistan. It has pledged $100 million for assistance to Afghanistan at the Tokyo Conference."

"Some of the financial assistance has been extended already. The bilateral cooperation between Pakistan and Afghanistan in various fields, including trade, road construction, telecommunications, healthcare, postal services, media development and power generation, is continuing and expanding. Within the cooperative process initiated by the international community, Pakistan has offered facilities and equipment for the training of the Afghan army and police as well as strengthening of Afghanistan's judicial system and narcotics control mechanisms."

He also referred to the construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan gas pipeline project "which has great potential for facilitating the economic recovery of Afghanistan as well as promoting economic integration in the region.