Pakistan on Thursday welcomed a controversial Afghan-U.S. security pact that allows nearly 12,000 American and NATO troops to stay beyond 2014.

The government of President Ashraf Ghani signed the Bilateral Security Agreement a day after took over as Afghan President this week.

"Pakistan supports every initiative aimed at bringing stability in our western neighbor because sustainable peace is in our own interest," the Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Tasnim Aslam said.

"Afghanistan is a sovereign country. It is their right to conclude agreements with any country. We, on our part, wish Afghanistan the best and we will continue to facilitate all efforts, to the extent possible, for creating stability, peace and prosperity in Afghanistan," she said at her weekly briefing.

She said Pakistan has also welcomed the peaceful political transition in Afghanistan and congratulated the Afghan leadership over the power-sharing agreement.

"Our hope and expectation is that this peaceful political transition will help Afghanistan to move towards greater stability, " she said, adding, "For us, Afghanistan's stability and prosperity are very important." Endi

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