Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: National Security Adviser (NSA) Dr Moeed Yusuf Friday said Afghan leadership lacked sincere intention to contain the use of its soil against Pakistan damaging peace and security of the region. The NSA gave a clear response to the accusations, leveled by a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) news anchor questioning the country’s role in Afghan peace process and allegations raised by the Awami National Party Leader Affrasiab Khattak blaming Pakistani government for chaos in Afghanistan.

Dr Moeed refused to respond to Khattak’s accusations flagged by the BBC anchor and emphasised that Pakistan only stood for peace and that’s why had fenced its entire border with Afghanistan and called the Afghan government to place a biometric system for controlled mobility between the two countries which the latter refused.

He said it was the Afghan government who not only opposed border fencing initiative and also Pakistan’s proposal for proper visa regime. “If you are to level an allegation then it should be logical one as the regions falling to Taliban were on the other side of Afghanistan, how Pakistan can assist that debacle,” he maintained.

The NSA said, “If there was anybody Pakistan wanted to cross to the other side then was that Pakistan or Afghanistan who would have to be eager to ensure fencing along the Pak-Afghan international border.”

He noted that there were serious questions on the intentions of the other side (Afghan so-called political leadership) that needed to be looked into a clear review of the situation.
“We can continue this conversation, however, we have seen Twitter hashtags blaming Pakistan and asking to sanction the country and accusing calling it responsible for chaos in Afghanistan,” he underlined.

The Pakistani government, he said minutely observed it and found that 65% was Bot activity (robot generated tweets) and mostly operated from Afghan government and Indian accounts.

Dr Moeed said Pakistan was having a country (Afghanistan) that was in crisis and its cities were falling, adding, “Pakistan’s only focus is on peace and political settlement, working with the US and international community members who abandoned Afghanistan and save Afghan lives. We want to do it for average Afghanis as we cannot sit on the sidelines.”

To a query, pertaining to Afghan safe havens in Pakistan, he replied, “These people (Taliban) and their parents were Afghan refugees, there women have married in Pakistan and some of them were born here as the world had abandoned Afghanistan as it is doing now.”

He said Pakistan had to support those people who laid their trust upon it and there were around 3.5 million Afghan refugees as of now in Pakistan, adding, “No other country has been so generous in this regard.”