16 December 2016

News Story: Kabul Rebukes Pakistan Over War Policy

By Shabeer Ahmadi

Delegates from Afghanistan and some foreign countries including northern Ireland gathered in Kabul to discuss ways to boost the Afghan peace process.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Abdullah Abdullah on Wednesday chided Pakistan over its policy regarding terrorist groups waging war in Afghanistan.

Despite international efforts to restore peace in Afghanistan, Islamabad still does not realize that the conflict in Afghanistan is not in the interests of Pakistan, said Abdullah.

“Over the past fifteen years, our neighbor did not realize that by supporting groups at war cannot benefit the interests of any country including Afghanistan,” said Abdullah.

Deputy foreign minister for policy Hikmat Khalil Karzai also criticized the counter-terrorism approach of western countries and said some countries in have established ties with the sponsors of terrorist organizations. However he did not give further details about the nature of these ties.

“To the point where eventually it started to backfire. Because on the other side, there was no reciprocity. We did not see goodwill coming towards us. Peace in Afghanistan is not just peace for Afghanistan, but it will lead to stability in the region, if there is stability in the region, there is an enormous amount of growth in the region,” said Karzai.

“It has become sort of a fashion for some western countries to engage with different donors, to engage with different militant groups, at the same time not to realize the reality of what they are dealing with,” Karzai added.

Read the full story at TOLOnews