Akram said peace and stability in the region could help Afghanistan and Pakistan grow into a central hub for activities taking place between Central Asia, South Asia and West Asia. To that end, Pakistan would be hosting the Third Regional Economic Cooperation Conference early next year. Currently, cooperation between the two countries covered the entire spectrum, he added. Despite its financial constraints, he said, Pakistan was contributing significantly and financially to the rebuilding of Afghanistan. Through the Tripartite Commission, and with his Government s cooperation, significant success had been achieved in the joint fight against terrorism. The ambassador said one of the major outstanding challenges his Government faced in regard to Afghanistan related to Afghan refugees. Pakistan continued to host more than 2 million Afghan refugees. His Government had recently agreed, with the support of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and based on the Tripartite Agreement of 2007, to the repatriation of those refugees and on the expeditious closure of four refugee camps near the joint border. Akram said effectively handling the refugee situation would help increase overall stability in the region and the United Nations should, therefore, use all necessary resources to assist in that process. He stressed, however, that any response to the challenges in Afghanistan should have strong national ownership, supported by the international community. Support for Government authority and capacity-building was necessary for success. Rehabilitation strategies should be based on a comprehensive approach, political dialogue and reconciliation. The diplomat said security was a major challenge. At least 78 districts in Afghanistan were currently rated as extremely risky and large areas of the country remained ungoverned or were controlled by extremists. Instead of externalizing Afghanistan s security problems, those sanctuaries should be eliminated first and foremost. Terrorist groups who were not prepared to join the reconciliation process and give up violence were at the core of the violence and conflict in the country, he said. Those groups should be confronted, but any military strategy should avoid causing problems for the overall population, since that would only further isolate those communities. It was important to win the hearts and minds of the ordinary Afghan citizen through good governance and improved living conditions. Currently, the pace of economic development and reconstruction was too slow and uneven. Akram said there was a need to drastically increase the resources available to rebuild the economy and to improve local and national capacity for reconstruction projects. Turning to the increase in poppy cultivation, he said the failed drug strategy was fast converting Afghanistan into a virtual drug economy. The ambassador said a comprehensive and balanced strategy was necessary to break the links between drug money and terrorism and criminality. He said corruption should also be addressed, since it had a serious impact on security, economic development, peace and security. Ensuring that the armed forces were properly trained, paid and ethnically balanced would also be of benefit, he added.--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/497554