Pakistan on Tuesday rejected as ‘baseless’ the latest US report accusing Islamabad of undermining security in Afghanistan by allowing safe havens for insurgents.
A Pentagon report released on Monday said that Pakistan is persistently undermining security in Afghanistan by permitting safe havens for insurgents and its failure to effectively combat the flow of improvised explosive devices (IED) materials.
The October 2012 report, published by the US Department of Defense (DoD), is from the period of April to October of this year. The report says, “The insurgency’s safe havens in Pakistan, the limited institutional capacity of the Afghan government, and endemic corruption remain the greatest risks to long-term stability and sustainable security in Afghanistan.”
However, a senior security official told The Express Tribune on Tuesday on condition of anonymity that “as the drawdown approaches, the US appears to make Pakistan a scapegoat to cover up its own failures in Afghanistan.”
According to AFP, the DoD in its biannual report said that the 68,000 US troops in Afghanistan and their allies had succeeded in preventing Taliban advances, while limiting civilian casualties.
The DoD report stated that the insurgency in Afghanistan receives support including sanctuary, training infrastructure, operational and financial support from within Pakistan. “The availability of sanctuary inside of Pakistan enables key elements of the insurgency to remain potent and threatening, including the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Taliban Network.”
But Taliban havens across the border in Pakistan, the limited capacity of the Afghan government and “endemic corruption” posed the greatest risks as the US prepares to pull out troops by the end of 2014, the Pentagon said.
Reacting to the Pentagon assessment, the official insisted that Pakistan had not permitted any “terrorist sanctuaries” on its soil. “If they (US) have any evidence about safe heavens, they should share with us,” he added.
The official said Pakistan will issue a formal rejoinder to the report following a detailed study.
Safe havens
Separately, US Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta said Pakistan has signaled its readiness to US officials to deal with terrorist safe havens in response to pressure to deny sanctuary to militant groups.
“We are more encouraged with the fact that they want to take steps to try to limit the terrorist threat within their own country and obviously the threat that goes across the border to Afghanistan,” Panetta told reporters. Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has also “indicated a willingness to try to put more pressure on safe havens.”
While “actions have to speak louder than words, I do believe they are in a better place because they understand the kind of threats they should deal with,” Panetta said.
Afghan delegation
Meanwhile, in a meeting with an 18-member Afghan parliamentary delegation, Prime Minister Raja Parvaiz Ashraf insisted that Pakistan wanted peace and stability in Afghanistan.
Referring to the recent visit of Chairman of the Afghan High Peace Council Salahuddin Rabbani and Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul, Prime Minister Ashraf said that “he was pleased that the relations are on the right direction.”
(WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM AFP)
Published in The Express Tribune, December 12th, 2012.
COMMENTS (27)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
1714024018-0/ModiLara-(1)1714024018-0-270x192.webp)
@Lala Gee: to B "... the Afghan government didn’t agree on several lame excuses and threatened to take the issue in UN in case Pakistan proceeded with the plan." If indeed the excuses were "lame", you could have convinced the UN about that. Unless Pakistan's reputation has sunk so low that no one pays any heed to what it says. This is what is known as shooting your own foot from a projectile fired from your own mouth! @B: "@Lala Gee: Good to hear that. Pakistan can always build a fence on its side. No one can take you to UN. " If that were true, that fence would have to be lot closer to Lahore, according to Afghans. It is not as if Pakistan exercises any sovereignty anywhere west of Lahore!
@Sulatan Ahmed
"The fact is that Afghan government is suffering from unleashed corruption and lawlessness in side the land.There is no human capacity,no access to rural pointed places because enough security is not available,administerative chain has not properly been set.There is no coordination between central government and federal units.Division of power are not properly distributed among judicial,legislative and executive."
This holds true for your government as well and you have had 65 years to build capacity with a template given to you by your colonial masters and yet you still have a failed state. Stop the lies and engage in some introspection.
The US has only one habit -- accuse others and ignore own blunders
Charges are framed but all are baseless and groundless have no value because all are one sided and fabricated. The fact is that Afghan government is suffering from unleashed corruption and lawlessness in side the land.There is no human capacity,no access to rural pointed places because enough security is not available,administerative chain has not properly been set.There is no coordination between central government and federal units.Division of power are not properly distributed among judicial,legislative and executive. Karzai government has been failed absolutely and in the same way foreign forces are facing defeat still failed to overcome the unrest in side.Now blame is being levelled against Pakistan close ally in war on terror.
The fact,attributed to the existing scenario is that players are standing in the play ground and want hit the ball to the other side.Under such mindset non sustainable evidences are being collected to proceed with.
@Lala Gee: Good to hear that. Pakistan can always build a fence on its side. No one can take you to UN.
Pakistan is in a permanent state of denial. Give us proof, no this proof is useless. OBL was never in Pakistan. Dawood Ibrahim is based in Dubai. Hafiz Saeed is a philanthropist. Taliban leadership is in Kandahar. Haqqani Network where, he is a traitor in US. Mumbai 26/11, no evidence. Violence in Afghanistan, must be CIA and RAW. Violence in Pakistan, they are non Muslims and agents of foreigners. Kargill, where is that place ? There was no Nuclear proliferation, never. Terrorist training camps, where ?
The World is full of liars, please come to the land of the Pure and learn the Truth.
@B:
"Why ask NATO? Build it yourself."
Pakistan has repeatedly offered to build a fence along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan as a solution to cross border terrorism, but the Afghan government didn't agree on several lame excuses and threatened to take the issue in UN in case Pakistan proceeded with the plan.
who is a terrorist?
People fighting in LIBYA are Freedom Fighters In Palestine are Terrorists In Syria ? In Leabnon? Its just a media game, every country will support one party looking at their long term objective and in this case Pakistan's and USA's dont match
Oh yeah? Where was Osama found then?
Pakistan has consulates in Afghanistan in the same cities that India has. And there are TWO consulates "near" the Pak-Afghan border, not 5.
this what they have been doing for the last 6 decades.
Blame Game: Pakistan rejects charges leveled By • Pentagon • India • Afghanistan • Iran • UK • Russia • China It sounds like some one by mistake is reading a page from insurance claim adjuster. The more claim one denies the more bonus they get.
Yes. Pakistan was also responsible for US defeat in Vietnam. Pearl Harbor mission was also planned in NWA and Quetta.
Yeah, yeah, the entire world wants to blame Pakistan for everything - only because they are pure and don't hurt a fly. Does any citizen in Pakistan know what the agencies are up to in Afghanistan and Balochistan? Ask yourself why China is not coming out in support of Pakistan when these charges are leveled against it? The Chinese are smart enough to see through this double-game and don't want to be a part of it. Pakistan is at the crossroads yet again. They can choose terrorism or they can choose to be a nation. They will not be allowed to have both.
@J T: "fuzzy definitions of the word “terrorist.”" +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ In Afghanistan the Taliban are "freedom fighters"and in Pakistan the Taliban are "terrorists". Geography based definition.
"“If they (US) have any evidence about safe heavens, they should share with us,” he added." +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ US in brackets may be replaced any other country accusing Pakistan.....:)
I don't know who supports terrorists or who doesn't. But the question is: has supporting terrorism gained anything for anyone?
no RAW without approval from CIA
@Truth Hurts: @Maria: Why does nobody believe you? Because you are under delusion....
@Truth Hurts: And of course you can give us credible references that support you position that "(RAW) is funding terror groups like TTP, BLA in Pakistan"! As for the "5 Indian consulates along Pak-Afg border", please note that the Indian consulates are located in Kabul, Jalalabad, Mazar-E-Sharif, Herat, and Kandahar! If you think they are all along the Pak-Afghan border then you need to learn how to read a map!
Why am I not surprised at the "official's" denial of Pakistan's support of terrorists? Hmmm...maybe it has something to do with the fact that the general establishment has rather fuzzy definitions of the word "terrorist."
Nothing new here - same old complaints that have been voiced for years. Everyone in Pakistan knows about the sanctuaries - they don't deny they exist they just change the reasons that they can't address the problem.
Afghans in Pakistan.That is not providing safe havens. N. Waziristan. No one dare go in there.
Americans have their blind spots. That include their think Tanks.
@Truth Hurts
If you say truth hurts, I guess you are the most painless person. Because you never tell one.
@Truth Hurts: I agree with you. Afghanis have always been willing puppets of the Indians and use their country as a base to send refugees and criminals to Pakistan. What Pakistan needs to do is influence NATO to build a big fence on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan so there is no movement of illegal Afghanis into Pakistan.
No peace is possible in Afghanistan as long as there are Indian RAW agents present in Aghanistan with 5 indian consulates along Pak-Afg border who are continuosely planing cross border attacks on Pak Army checkposts and funding terror groups like TTP, BLA in Pakistan!