Pak Sahafat – Pakistan’s foreign minister rejected any military intervention in the territory of Afghanistan or cross-border operations and said: Islamabad is ready to help the interim rulers of Kabul to deal with the phenomenon of terrorism.
According to Pak Sahafat News Agency’s report from Pakistani media, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, during an interview with the Washington Post on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, asked the leaders of the Taliban in Afghanistan to take effective action to eliminate terrorist elements inside this country.
He added: “Pakistan has no desire to intervene militarily in the territory of Afghanistan or carry out cross-border operations against terrorist elements, but we offer help to the temporary rulers of Afghanistan to eliminate terrorists.”
Zardari ruled out any negotiations between Islamabad and the terrorist group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and criticized the former government of Pakistan for negotiating with terrorists and failing to prevent the infiltration of these elements, and added: Pakistan will not negotiate with terrorist organizations that do not respect the country’s laws and constitution, and no negotiations will be held with the sanctioned TTP group.
He stated: We are confident that if we can work with the interim government of Afghanistan, which has influence over these groups (Tehrik Taliban), we will be successful in maintaining mutual security.
Pakistan’s foreign minister added: Islamabad’s hope and in fact our agreement with Kabul was that Afghanistan’s soil would not be used for terrorism. We hope to work with the interim rulers of Afghanistan to deal with the terrorists who are of concern to us.
At the end of last month, Zardari, in response to the increase in the security vacuum on Pakistan’s borders with Afghanistan, threatened Kabul with direct action against the perpetrators of the attacks on Pakistan’s soil and warned: Islamabad’s patience is about to run out.
He holds Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan responsible for the assassination of his mother, Binazir Bhutto, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan and added: Pakistan reserves the right to take direct action against terrorist groups supported by hostile services.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been strained due to border incidents and accusations against each other of not doing enough to deal with terrorist elements.
The Taliban government in Kabul rejected the accusations of the Pakistani statesmen and warned against their provocative statements, while Islamabad demanded effective and strong action by Afghanistan against the factors of insecurity in the common borders, especially anti-Pakistani groups.