Ghani echoes Modi on Pak terror

Afghanistan on Sunday joined India to lambast Pakistan for sheltering terrorists and exporting terror in its neighbourhood. Jointly inaugurating the sixth Heart of Asia Ministerial Conference at Amritsar in Punjab with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Afghan President M Ashraf Ghani directly blamed Pakistan for providing sanctuaries to Taliban and other terrorist organisations operating in his country.

Ghani quoted Taliban leader Mullah Rahmatullah Kakazada saying recently that the terrorist organisation would not have survived if they had no sanctuaries in Pakistan.
Sartaj Aziz, foreign affairs adviser to Pakistan Prime Minister M Nawaz Sharif, was in the audience when Ghani blamed Islamabad for the recent spurt in violence in his country. Aziz led the delegation of the Pakistan government in the meet. Ghani even snubbed Pakistan, referring to its pledge for $500 million assistance for the reconstruction of Afghanistan.

“There is a need for a fund to combat extremism,” he said. “Pakistan has generously pledged $500 million for reconstructing Afghanistan. This fund, Aziz, could very well be used for containing extremism because without peace, any amount of assistance will not meet the needs of our people,” he said addressing the leader of the delegation from Pakistan. Modi did not directly blame Pakistan, but said terrorism and externally induced instability posed the gravest threat to Afghanistan’s peace, stability and prosperity.

“And, the growing arc of terrorist violence endangers our entire region. As such, support for voices of peace in Afghanistan alone is not enough. It must be backed by resolute action. Not just against forces of terrorism, but also against those who support, shelter, train and finance them,” he said. “Silence and inaction against terrorism in Afghanistan and our region will only embolden terrorists and their masters,” he added.

Role of non-state actors
Kabul has been upset over the role of “state and non-state actors” of Pakistan in fomenting extremism and exporting terrorism to Afghanistan. So has been New Delhi over repeated attacks being launched in India by outfits based in Pakistan.

Military operations
“The military operations in Pakistan have brought a major but selective displacement of the Pakistani extremist networks and their allies on to Afghanistan,” said Ghani, who earlier had a bilateral meeting with Modi.

“Despite our intense engagement with Pakistan on bilateral and multilateral basis, the undeclared war — the name that I gave to the phenomenon in 2014 — has intensified during 2016, with special intensity right after the Brussels Conference (in early October),” he said.