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Pakistan using terrorism as tool against immediate neighbors
The former Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said Pakistan is still using terrorism as a tool against its immediate neighbors.
In his speech at a think tank in New Delhi, Karzai said ‘the war on terror has failed to discourage Pakistan from using terrorism and religious radicalism as tools against its immediate neighbors.’
The former Afghan President further added that the Islamic State militants who have emerged as a new threat to Afghanistan were finding support from a ‘sinister agency” from “across the border”.
“We know that the IS in Afghanistan is made of foreign fighters. We know that these fighters are being controlled by a sinister agency from across the border,” Karzai was quoted as saying in a report by The Hindu newspaper.
In other parts of his speech, Karzai blamed the United States-backed radicalisation movements during the Cold War era for the troubles facing South Asia and West Asia-North Africa. The fallout of radicalisation has been long term and has surrounded the entire region and spread to Iraq and Syria, he said.
“Pakistan is paying a price of the radicalisation process that began in the anti-Soviet jihad. Just last week, some of the best educated people of Pakistan died in an attack in Quetta. We therefore are appealing to brothers in Pakistan so that we can have civilised relationship and show that religion is for good purposes,” Karzai said.
The remarks came as the Afghan officials have long been criticizing Pakistan for allowing the Afghan militant groups, specifically the Taliban group and the notorious Haqqani terrorist network leaderships to use its soil and coordinate attacks in Afghanistan. -KP
THE PASHTUN TIMES
