KABUL: After Kabul’s deadly attack, Afghan authorities are increasingly pointing fingers at neighbouring Pakistan, saying “initial evidence” suggested the Haqqani network carried out the attack.
“Any attack the Haqqani group conducts is not possible without Pakistan’s help and this has been repeatedly proven in the last 14 years,” a presidential spokesman Dawa Khan Meenapal told US media on Friday.
President Ghani is also being criticised for seeking Pakistan’s help in bringing fugitive Taliban leaders to the negotiating table. A senior aide to President Ghani said, “We have decided not to rely on Pakistan the way we did before the attack”, adding that Tuesday’s attack was a “setback” for efforts to improve bilateral relations. The aide while requesting anonymity said that the officials “don’t believe Pakistan is genuine” in its resolve to help in the Afghan peace efforts.
He said that the Taliban would make significant progress in the battlefield against Afghan security forces with the start of the so-called Taliban spring offensive.
He said, “Unfortunately, Pakistani intelligence people were too enthusiastic about Taliban success prospects”, insisting that the Kabul attack stemmed from frustration and setbacks the Islamist insurgency suffered since it launched fighting against Afghan forces on April 12th.
The presidential aide anticipated more Taliban attacks across Afghanistan in the next few weeks in their bid to capture a province but expected the insurgent group to announce its readiness for peace talks with the government by the end of May.
The Afghan adviser said, “ Taliban will not be able to make any advances in the fighting. If the fighting goes as it is for another two to three weeks, Pakistan will step forward and would say that they have now convinced the Taliban to join talks”. The officials in Pakistan were not available immediately to comment on the Afghan assertions.