Afghanistan supports India’s strikes in “self-defence” to neutralise terrorists inside Pakistan, Kabul’s envoy Dr. Shaida M. Abdali said on Friday. Addressing the media a day after the Indian army carried out “surgical strikes” targeting “launch pads for terrorists”, he argued for taking the war on terror to the “safe sanctuaries” of terror across the border.
“Terrorism will threaten us all if we do not combat it. Therefore we feel that the time has come for tough action against terrorists. There will be risk and cost involved in such measures but we have to undertake them because the time has come for us to combat this force. If terror groups continue violence, then the actions taken (by India) will continue,” Mr. Abdali said in support of the Indian army’s actions that killed a number of terrorists.
The Afghan envoy was one of the twenty-two diplomats who were briefed by India on Thursday regarding the strikes and said that the Indian actions prove Pakistan’s complicity in terror attacks that target neighbouring states. He said that terrorism from Pakistan is also hurting communities inside Pakistan.
“We have fought terrorism and will fight it now for the Baloch and the Pashtuns of Pakistan,” he said and added, “there is no doubt that state sponsorship of terrorism exists in Pakistan and the war of terror therefore can not be fought in Afghanistan but at its roots where it originates and finds sanctuaries”.
Mr. Abdali highlighted his country’s commitment to free Afghanistan of terrorism and said that the world has no little patience for the rhetoric that distinguishes between good and bad terrorists. “Terrorism is a global threat and we would like to reach out to countries to deal with this threat. We will not accept distinction in the war of terrorism,” he said.
The envoy’s comments are highlighted by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s assessment of the threat that terrorism poses to Afghanistan. During his latest visit to Delhi, President Ghani said, “Today there are two wars raging (in South Asia). The war in my country is not a civil war. What kind of a political solution is possible when you have nine internationally recognised terrorist groups operating in your country (Afghanistan),” Dr. Ghani said during his speech at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses and highlighted the need to address the violence raging in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces of Pakistan.
Referring to terror groups that use territory of Balochistan to target Afghanistan, the Afghan envoy said that his country wishes to reach out to all Taliban and extremist factions to come to the negotiating table. However he said that no “tangible” progress has taken place in the peace talks with the Taliban. “We are serious for peace talks with the Taliban and our peace negotiation with the Hizb E. Islami is a proof of our seriousness. Negotiation with these groups is being carried under our constitution of Afghanistan that aims for peace in our land,” he said arguing that his government is not risk-averse when it comes to peace negotiations.
