ISLAMABAD - Pakistan yesterday hit back at Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and made it clear Islamabad was not sheltering the Taliban or other terrorists.
Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria said Pakistan did not make a distinction between good or bad terrorists as alleged by President Ghani.
He said Pakistan was making serious efforts for peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan.
Zakaria said Pakistan hosted the first round of direct talks between Afghan government and Taliban. He, however, added Pakistan alone was not responsible for bringing the Taliban back to the table.
He said the Quadrilateral Coordination Group – comprising Afghanistan, China, Pakistan and the United States - was constituted to achieve the objective of peace and stability in Afghanistan. The spokesman said peace in the neighbouring country was in the interest of Pakistan.
This week, the Afghan leader stepped back from attempts to engage Taliban in peace talks, vowing Afghanistan will instead “execute” enemies of the state and undertake preparations for an extended war.
In a speech that signalled a significant shift in policies, Ghani left open the prospects for dialogue with Taliban fighters who put down their weapons. But he deemed both the Taliban organisations as well as its Pakistan-based offshoot, the Haqqani network, ‘terrorists’ and vowed expanded attacks by the Afghan military.
He demanded of Pakistan to arrest and hand over Taliban leaders who find refuge in the country. If Pakistan failed to act, he said, Afghanistan would push for “responsible international entities” to “act outside of Afghanistan against the criminals whose hands are stained in the blood” of Afghans.
His remarks were viewed as representing a setback for the United States’ hopes that the 14-year Taliban insurgency could be ended through a negotiated settlement. Back-channel discussions have been ongoing for the past three years trying to establish the framework for such talks.
“The enemies of Afghanistan should realise, if they are captured in the battlefield fighting against the people of Afghanistan, or in terrorist activities, they will definitely be handed over to the law, and will be dealt with the law,” said Ghani, adding his government will resume capital punishment for convicted terrorists.
Reports said an Afghan Taliban delegation based in Qatar was in Pakistan for direct talks with the Afghan government. A senior American official - US Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan - Jonathan Carpenter, was also in Islamabad. It was unclear whether his arrival was linked to the presence of the Taliban delegation in Pakistan.
Pakistan hosted a meeting between the Afghan government and Taliban representatives in Murree in July 2015 along with the representatives from China and the US. The second round of the talks scheduled to be held in Pakistan on July 31, 2015, was cancelled in view of the reports about the death of Taliban chief Mullah Omar and the leadership crisis in the outfit.
Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria said Pakistan condemned all forms and manifestation of terrorism and it was committed in the fight against this menace.
“Pakistan itself is the biggest victim of terrorism in which thousands of our security personnel have sacrificed their lives,” he said in a statement – responding to the allegations by President Ghani