Pakistan rejects Afghan army chief remarks over Taliban support

 

Pakistan on Wednesday rejected remarks by Afghan army chief that Pakistan controlled and gave shelter to Afghan Taliban leaders, deliberately unleashing fighters on Afghanistan.

 

General Sher Mohammad Karimi told the BBC that fighting in Afghanistan could be stopped “in weeks” if Pakistan told the Taliban to end the insurgency.

 

Pakistan dismissed General Karimi’s remarks as yet another attempt to malign the country.

 

“The allegations that Pakistan “controls” the Taliban and has “unleashed” them on Afghanistan have no basis. We reject them categorically,” the Foreign Ministry said in Islamabad.

 

“Pakistan has exercised extreme restraint in the face of highly provocative language used by the Afghan civil and military officials over the last few months, not to mention some totally fabricated accusations,” the Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

 

He said in a statement that such comments also reflect insincerity on the part of some elements in Afghan government.

 

“On the specific request of the Afghan leadership itself, Pakistan has been fully supportive of the reconciliation process. Our concrete steps to facilitate this process, are well known,” the spokesman said.

 

He said Pakistan will not be deterred in its efforts to support the international community’s efforts to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan.

 

“We would, however, hope that the Afghan officials would refrain from leveling baseless allegation and work towards creating a conducive environment that helps advance the shared objectives of peace, stability and prosperity,” the Pakistani spokesman said.

 

The Afghan army chief claimed said that the Afghan Taliban are under Pakistan’s control and its leadership is in Pakistan.

 

“If [Pakistan] put pressure on [Taliban] leadership or convinced them what to be done, that can help a lot,” General Karimi told the BBC’s Hardtalk programme aired on Wednesday.

 

 

 

Posted by Tahir Khan on Jul 3 2013. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.