After Afghanistan’s Vice President Amrullah Saleh said he has evidence that the Taliban are getting support from Pakistan, President Ashraf Ghani has said that more than 10,000 ‘jihadi’ fighters have entered Afghanistan in the last month from Pakistan.
This statement was made by Ghani in the presence of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan who was sitting just just few feet away on stage at the Central and South Asia connectivity conference that was held here on Friday (July 16), reports The Hindu.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, also attended the conference and said economic development and prosperity go “hand in hand” with peace and security.
In a hard-hitting speech, Ghani said the Pakistani government had failed to convince the Taliban to participate “seriously” in the peace talks.
“Contrary to repeated assurances by Prime Minister Khan and his Generals that Pakistan does not find a Taliban takeover in Afghanistan in Pakistan’s interest and short of use of force will use its power and influence to make the Taliban negotiate seriously, networks and organizations supporting the Taliban are openly celebrating the destruction of the assets and capabilities of the Afghan people and State,” Ghani made this statement at the inaugural ceremony of the conference, as he listed the challenges and threats to regional connectivity.
Within a few minutes after the Afghan president made the claim, PM Imran Khan said he was “disappointed” by the allegation that Pakistan had a “negative role” in the conflict in Afghanstan.
“President Ghani, the country that is going to be most affected by turmoil in Afghanistan is Pakistan. Pakistan suffered 70,000 casualties in the last 15 years. The last thing Pakistan wants is more conflict,” Mr. Khan said, addressing the Afghan President directly. “I can assure you that no country has tried harder to get Taliban on the dialogue table than Pakistan. We have taken all action short of taking military action, and every effort to bring them to the dialogue table and have a peaceful settlement there, and to blame Pakistan for what is going on in Afghanistan is extremely unfair,” he added.
Already Vice President Saleh said he has evidence that the Pakistan military had threatened to use missile launches against the Afghan Air Force if it targeted the Taliban was targeted near the border checkposts at Spin Boldak.
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