Civil-military leaders reject Kabul’s ‘baseless allegations’

Say Pakistan remains committed to continue its ongoing efforts for local, regional and global peace

ISLAMABAD: A day after military commanders took exception to Afghanistan’s ‘unwarranted accusations and threats against Pakistan’, the country’s civil and military leadership came together on Wednesday to strongly reject Kabul’s ‘baseless allegations’ that Islamabad is behind terrorism in the war-torn country.

A special corps commanders’ conference on Tuesday discussed the situation in the aftermath of recent terrorist attacks in Kabul and ‘strongly rejected’ the allegations levelled by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Tuesday at the launch of the so-called Kabul Process.

Ghani had accused that Afghanistan was suffering from an ‘undeclared war of aggression from Pakistan’ and said Kabul’s problem and challenge was that it could not figure out what Pakistan wanted.



"What will it take to convince Pakistan that a stable Afghanistan helps them and helps our region?” he had remarked before a gathering of 23 nations, the European Union, the United Nations and Nato.

In this backdrop, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday chaired a ‘special’ meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) of the Cabinet ‘to review the issues of national and regional security’, said a statement issued after the meeting by the PM House.

The meeting was attended by top military leaders including army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Zubair Hayat, naval chief Admiral Muhammad Zakaullah, air chief Sohail Aman and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt Gen Naveed Mukhtar.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Adviser to PM on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz and senior civil and military officials also attended the moot.

According to the statement issued after the meeting, the forum strongly condemned the recent incident of terrorism in Kabul and resolved to remain steadfast and resolute in support of Afghan people.

“The participants expressed concern on the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan and strongly rejected the baseless allegations on Pakistan in that context,” it said.



The meeting highlighted that Pakistan is the only country in the Afghan equation which achieved clear and measurable success against terrorism despite limited capacity and huge human and economic costs.

“Pakistan has not only remained committed to a peaceful and stable Afghanistan but also worked with all regional and global initiatives to that end,” it said.

The statement said Islamabad has shown “exceptional restraint even when Afghan territory was used for terrorist acts in Pakistan which resulted in massive human losses.”

“Pakistan is fully cognizant of institutional collaboration by elements hostile to Pakistan and will defend itself resolutely against manifest and future threats. Pakistan remains committed to continue its ongoing efforts for local, regional and global peace,” it added.