Minister Asif slams Afghanistan for failing to act against militants

Despite Pakistan’s repeated requests, the Afghanistan government’s evading its responsibility to take action against militants involved in cross-border attacks drew criticism from Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Saturday.

Talking with BBC Urdu, the defence minister said the Government of Pakistan hoped that the Taliban government would "cooperate on the matter, nevertheless, Kabul is not ready to use force against the militants".

He said the government even offered to give Rs10 billion to transfer the militants to the western border areas, but it feared the militants could return to the Pakistan border from there as well.

It should be noted that Pakistan has times and again requested the Taliban government to stop cross-border terrorism from Afghanistan into Pakistan by preventing its territory from being used by the TTP and other terrorist groups.

In an interview with the Voice of America (VoA) Thursday, Asif had said that under the Operation Azm-e-Istehkam, Pakistan could target terrorist hideouts across the border in Afghanistan. He had also dismissed the possibility of negotiations with the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Meanwhile, Pakistan has also decided to participate in the United Nations-hosted talks on Afghanistan in the Qatari capital scheduled to start on June 30, diplomatic sources told Geo News.

Earlier this month, Taliban authorities had also confirmed their participation in the third round of the Doha talks, where Pakistan might raise its concerns on the cross-border terrorism.

Addressing the concerns on whether the fresh anti-terrorism operation was being launched under pressure, the minister said Operation Azm-e-Istehkam was not an army's demand, rather it was the government's need. He also clarified that there was no pressure from China as well for the operation.

In response to Asif’s statement, Jamiat Ulema e Islam-F (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said the manner in which the defence minister spoke was not a sign of improvement in Pak-Afghan relationships.

"Where decisions will be taken as a result of such war training, then they will meet the same response. We will not be left with any friend in the region through such decisions," he said.

To a query, Asif said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan’s release from jail would not pose any threat. "The government is ready for talks. However, they did not believe that the PTI founder will take the offer of negotiations seriously,” he said.