Daily Times

KABUL: Kabul on Friday rejected claims that the Afghan soil was used by terrorists to launch attack on Bacha Khan University in Charsadda.

The office of the president in a statement said ‘Islamic Republic of Afghanistan has never supported any terrorist group and has never provided sanctuaries to the terror groups’.

Strongly condemning the attack on Bacha Khan University, the statement said fight against terrorism was only possible through joint and sincere cooperation. “Afghan government understands that there are no good or bad Taliban, since the terrorists are only pursuing to spread terror,” the statement said, and insisted on joint and bold efforts to combat the menace of terrorism in the region.

The statement by Afghan government comes a day after Chief of Army Staff Gen Raheel Sharif telephoned President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah and shared with them details of investigation into terrorist attack on Bacha Khan University in Charsadda.

In successive messages on Twitter, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) chief Lt Gen Asim Bajwa Thursday said the army chief told Afghan leadership that investigation into the Charsadda university attack had revealed it was ‘controlled from a location in Afghanistan through an Afghan cell phone by a TTP operative’.

At least 21 people were killed when four unidentified gunmen entered Bacha Khan University in Charsadda and opened fire on students and faculty members as they gathered at the institution for a poetry recital to commemorate the death anniversary of the activist and leader whom the university is named after.

The mastermind of the APS Peshawar attack, Umar Mansoor of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Geedar Group, had claimed the attack through a post on his Facebook page, adding that four attackers were sent to the university.

However, a spokesperson from the TTP, Mohammad Khorasani, issued a conflicting statement shortly after Mansoor’s claim, in which Khorasani condemned the attack, terming it ‘against Shariah’. Khorasani also warned that those ‘using TTP’s name will be brought to justice’.