Kabul, Afghanistan – After a series of deadly attacks earlier this month in Kabul, Afghanistan, its President Ashraf Ghani, accused Pakistan of prolonging a 14 year war by supporting Taliban militants, in a cynical quest for influence.
Pakistan denied the charge and said it cannot be expected to monitor the movement of Afghani militants across border regions barely under the control of Islamabad, Pakistan capital.
This has been a longstanding issue between the two neighbors but it is specially risky at the time, as the Taliban seem to increase in militant strength while the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) pulled out its troops from Afghanistan.
This may be the outcome of a too-optimistic approach from Afghan President Ghani towards Mamnoon Hussain, President of Pakistan. The continuation of Taliban attacks, and the rise in violence that followed the transfer of security control from NATO to Afghan forces at the end of last years seems to have exhausted Ghani’s patience.
“The decisions the Pakistani government will be making in the next few weeks will significantly affect bilateral relations for the next decades. We can no longer tolerate watching our people bleeding in a war exported and imposed on us from outside,” Ghani said.
For Pakistan is not easy to reply to such accusations as the basic facts are not in dispute: leaders of the Taliban have been based in Pakistan, in areas such as Quetta, Peshawar and Karachi, since the US invasion in 2001 overthrew their regime and forced them to leave.
Recent events also have made clear the Pakistan’s influence over the group. “Taliban leaders direct the war from Pakistani soil, and send gunmen and suicide bombers, weapons and money across the border every year for the Taliban summer offensive. This year, the warm-weather offensive has been particularly ferocious, following the NATO drawdown,” according to ABC’s report.
Source: ABC News