Daily Times

Pakistan said on Monday said it has conveyed its serious concerns to the Afghan side by making a strong demarche with the ambassador of Afghanistan in Islamabad on the recent ‘irresponsible statements and baseless allegations’ made by the Afghan leadership.

“Pakistan operates an organized system of support. The Taliban receive logistics there, their finances are there and recruitment is there. The names of the various decision-making bodies of the Taliban are Quetta Shura, Miramshah Shura and Peshawar Shura – named after the Pakistani cities where they are located. There is a deep relationship with the state,” President Ghani had claimed in an interview with Der Spiegel last week.

“ISI, Pakistan’s intelligence agency, is not doing mercy on you (Taliban). They neither want you nor they will help to take power. All they have told you is a lie. The only thing they want from you is that they are sacrificing you for themselves and for their own war,” Afghan NSA Hamdullah Mohib had said during his visit to eastern Nangarhar province on Saturday, according to Tolo TV.

The Foreign Office said Pakistan has emphasized that groundless accusations erode trust and vitiate the environment between the two brotherly countries and disregard the constructive role being played by Pakistan in facilitating the Afghan peace process.

Sources told Daily Times that Afghan ambassador Najibullah Alikhil was summoned to the Foreign Office on Sunday to lodge a formal protest over remarks by President Ashraf Ghani and his National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib.

Responding to media queries regarding the baseless allegations made by the Afghan leadership, spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaidhru said the Afghan side was urged to effectively utilize the available forums like Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity (APAPPS) to address all bilateral issues.

The Afghan embassy did not respond to a request for comments. Sources said the matter has been referred to Kabul.

The Afghan leaders issued anti-Pakistan statements just days after Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Bajwa visited Kabul and assured the country’s support for the fragile peace process. British Chief of the General Staff General Nick Carter, who had accompanied General Bajwa, has been trying to remove the mistrust between the two uneasy neighbours. US special envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad says the US and the UK are making efforts for a security agreement between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Ghani admitted in the interview with Der Spiegel that the Pakistani army chief clearly assured him that the “restoration of the Emirate or dictatorship by the Taliban is not in anybody’s interest in the region, especially Pakistan”. When asked if a future security agreement between Afghanistan and Pakistan is the key to peace, he said ‘most certainly an important key’. “But my goal is the neutrality of Afghanistan. We don’t want a new protecting power, and we don’t want to be part of regional or international rivalries.”