Pakistan’s lack of will in dealing with insurgents stems from its “India phobia”, its military and civilian tensions and its trust deficit with neighbours, Afghanistan’s foreign minister has said while demanding the dismantling of “safe havens” in Pakistan to defeat terrorism.
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Citing specific incident, Danesh said that attack American University in Kabul was plotted on Pakistani soil.
In further embarrassment for Islamabad, Afghanistan on Wednesday said that “merciless attacks from terrorist groups” against its civilians are being planned and organized on Pakistani territory. Danesh claimed the Taliban and Haqqani network are trained, equipped and financed there.
Danesh said that more than 10 Pakistan-based terrorist groups were creating obstacles for its state-building efforts and preventing the establishment of peace and stability in Afghanistan.
Afghan VP said “world knows where Taliban leaders live”.
“We ask all all of you: Where were the previous leaders of the Taliban and A1-Qaeda residing, and where were they killed?”.
Afghanistan has always desired peaceful relations with all countries in the region, however, the government reserves the right to do whatever is necessary for the defense and protection of its people, he said.
The Afghan government is leaving the door open to armed groups willing to seek peace, he said. He said such an agreement is about to be signed with the Hezb-e-Islami group whose leader, Gulbuddin Helmatyar, is a USA -designated terrorist.
On the safe havens provided to terror groups in Pakistan, he said the spike in violence in Afghanistan shows that terror groups have continuous support “from somewhere” otherwise they would not have been able to fight in several provinces at the same time.
“This is an important development”, Rabbani said.
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In other parts of his speech, Danesh said the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (Afghanistan, China, Pakistan and the United States) could remain a useful platform as long as Pakistan acted in good faith to meet its commitments.
