In 20 tweets, Afghan president Ghani blasts Pakistan for supporting insurgents
Kabul: The Afghan president called on Pakistan on Monday to crack down on the Taliban after a suicide car bombing earlier in the day near Kabul’s international airport killed five people, the latest in a wave of deadly attacks in the capital.
In a televised address, Ashraf Ghani also blamed neighbouring Pakistan for what he described as Islamabad’s support to the insurgents whose war against Kabul is now nearing its 14th year, and said he was sending a delegation to Islamabad later this week to demand a stop to this.
“We know they have sanctuaries there, we know they are active there,” Ghani said, referring to Taliban leaders living in Pakistan. “We need all those activities to be stopped.”
Since assuming office a year ago, Ghani has pursued closer relations with Pakistan, which wields influence over the insurgent group, hoping that it could use that influence to bring the Taliban into peace negotiations.
Pakistan, which has in the past denied supporting the Taliban, said it remains committed to maintaining good relations with Kabul and that after losing tens of thousands of its own people to terrorist attacks, it can feel the “pain and anguish of the brotherly people” of Afghanistan over the latest attacks there.
“Pakistan condemns these deadly attacks in Afghanistan in the strongest terms,” said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, adding that Pakistan will continue to support and facilitate an “Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace and reconciliation process” with the Taliban.
Pakistan hosted the first official round of Kabul-Taliban negotiations last month, but a second round that was due at the end of last month was indefinitely postponed after the Afghan government announced the death over two years ago of the reclusive Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar.
The one-eyed Mullah Omar had hosted Osama Bin Laden’s al-Qaida in the years leading up to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He had not been seen in public since fleeing over the border into Pakistan after the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that ousted the Taliban. Since the announcement of his death, the Taliban have been torn by infighting and rivalries for the leadership post.
On Monday, Ghani appeared to take a step back on the peace talks.
“We don’t want Pakistan to bring the Taliban to peace talks, but to stop the Taliban’s activities on their soil,” he said.
Only hours earlier, a suicide car bombing at a busy roundabout near the entrance to the Kabul airport killed at least five people and wounded 16, officials said. The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Kabul provincial police chief, Abdul Rahman Rahimi, told The Associated Press that a car packed with explosives blew up at the busy intersection.
Ghani also underlined his concerns in a telephone conversation Monday with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.
Kerry spokesman John Kirby said the two discussed the need of Afghanistan and Pakistan to eliminate safe havens for Taliban insurgents.
The attacks demonstrate the insurgency’s “complete disregard for the lives of innocent Afghans,” Kirby told reporters in Washington, saying the U.S. would work with Afghanistan and Pakistan to try to create a “stable, secure and prosperous region.”
“Now is the time for the leaders of Afghanistan, Pakistan, to work together to achieve the shared goal of defeating violent extremists,” he said. “It is in the urgent interest of both countries to eliminate safe havens and to reduce the operational capacity of the Taliban on both sides of the border.”
Monday’s suicide car bombing was the latest in a series of deadly attacks on the capital, which since Friday have killed more than 50 people and wounded hundreds.
The Taliban have claimed responsibility for all the attacks but one — a truck bomb explosion that flattened a city block, killed 15 people and wounded 240 as they slept in the early hours of Friday.
It is widely believed the truck in that attack detonated prematurely — CCTV footage shown on Afghan television purportedly showed the truck hitting a speed bump and then blowing up.
Earlier this month, the Afghan intelligence service disclosed that Mullah Omar had been dead for more than two years. The disclosure, later confirmed by the Taliban, triggered the internal succession dispute and raised questions about the future direction of the insurgency.
Ghani said the recent attacks showed “the war has changed shape.”
“The enemy who was fighting to gain territory and claim victory, has now had its backbone broken,” he said of the insurgent group. “It is so desperate now that it has turned to cowardly attacks against innocent people just to weaken people’s morale.”
Here is the string of Tweets:
1. The war methods have changed against Afghans. The peace process is facing new questions. pic.twitter.com/aqWtHri0qU
— Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) August 10, 2015
2. The recent series of attacks in Kabul and other provinces show that the war has changed shape.
— Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) August 10, 2015
3. The enemy is so desperate now that it has turned to cowardly attacks against innocent people just to weaken people’s morale.
— Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) August 10, 2015
4. In my conversation last night with Pakistan’s Prime Minister and the Chief of Army Staff, I made it clear that...1/2
— Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) August 10, 2015
2/2 ...the government of Pakistan should have the same definition of terrorism in regard to Afghanistan, just as it has for its own.
— Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) August 10, 2015
5. Over the past ten months, we have persistently shown that Afghanistan has both the will and enough capacity to work toward peace.
— Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) August 10, 2015
6. However, Pakistan still remains a venue and ground for gatherings from which mercenaries send us messages of war.
— Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) August 10, 2015
7. The incidents of the past two months in general and the recent days in particular show that..1/2
— Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) August 10, 2015
2/2.the suicide training camps &the bomb making facilities used to target &murder our innocent people still operate, as in the past, in Pak.
— Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) August 10, 2015
8. Just as the incident in Peshawar and the killing of hundreds of innocent children in a school became a turning point in Pakistan, 1/2
— Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) August 10, 2015
2/2..the recent incidents in Kabul and other provinces are no less and we call it a turning point for Afghanistan.
— Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) August 10, 2015
9. Our righteousness has been proven and everyone in the region knows we made all sincere efforts for peace.
— Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) August 10, 2015
10.The decisions that Pak gov will be making in the next few weeks will be as significant to affect bilateral relations for the next decades
— Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) August 10, 2015
11. The security of our people and the national interests of Afghanistan lay the basis of our relationship with Pakistan. 1/2
— Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) August 10, 2015
2/2 We can no longer tolerate to see our people bleeding in a war exported and imposed on us from outside.
— Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) August 10, 2015
12. Pakistan Prime Minister pledged to direct his government to chart out an action plan against terrorism..1/2
— Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) August 10, 2015
13.We hoped for peace,but war is declared against us from Pak territory;this in fact puts into a display aclear hostility against a neighbor
— Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) August 10, 2015
14. I ask Pakistan if Shah shaheed attack happened in Pakistan from Afghan soil how will they react?
— Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) August 10, 2015
15. I have directed the courts and the judicial authorities to show no leniency with those who have our people’s blood on their hand.
— Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) August 10, 2015
16. We will make peace only with those who do not destroy their own country on order from foreign masters.
— Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) August 10, 2015
17. I call on and request our politicians to do their utmost to keep this nation together at this critical juncture..2/2
— Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) August 10, 2015
2/2.. and to refrain from any actions that spread suspicions and disunity from which enemy may benefit.
— Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) August 10, 2015
18.Our relation w/ Pak is based on our ntl interests,If our people continue to be killed,relations lose meaning & I hope it will not happen.
— Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) August 10, 2015
19. I'd like to pay my heartfelt tributes &prayers to all those martyred in the recent terrorist attacks &condolences to their families 2/2
— Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) August 10, 2015
2/2.. I also wish a quick recovery for all those injured.
— Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) August 10, 2015
20. Last but not least, I thank our brave soldiers and ANSF personnel for making sacrifices to keep nation safe. Long live Afghanistan!
— Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) August 10, 2015