ISLAMABAD - Afghanistan has alleged hospitals in neighbouring Pakistan are receiving and treating Taliban insurgents who had been injured in recent fighting with Afghan forces in the southeastern Ghazni city.
President Ashraf Ghani, while speaking to a gathering of officials, clerics and residents in Ghazni Friday, also said that militants came from the Pakistani side of the border to participate in the fighting, reported Voice of America (VoA).
Ghani visited the embattled city just days after Afghan forces, backed by US airpower, evicted insurgents from Ghazni to prevent it from falling to the Taliban, though clashes were still continuing in the surrounding districts.
Ghani asserted that Pakistan’s military chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, had assured him cross-border insurgent activity would not be allowed. “Gen Bajwa, you signed a document with us and told me repeatedly in our conversations over the phone that when the elections (in Pakistan) are over you will pay attention to it. I need answers now….From where they came and why are they receiving treatment in your hospitals?” Ghani asked.
There was no immediate reaction available from the Pakistan military to Ghani's allegations. Pakistan held parliamentary elections on July 25 and the democratic transition is due to conclude on Saturday when Prime Minister-elect Imran Khan takes oath of office.
On Thursday, Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mohammad Faisal, denied as baseless reports circulating in social media linking Pakistan to the Ghazni conflict, including allegations that insurgents were being brought to Pakistani hospitals.
“We have not received any evidence to back up these spurious accusations and we reject these baseless allegations,” Faisal told reporters in Islamabad.
Faisal explained the steps Pakistan is taking to promote peace and stability to the neighbouring country and underscored the need for finding a negotiated end to the Afghan war.
“Pakistan is fencing the Afghanistan-Pakistan border with the objective of regulating the movement of men and material, including narcotics, as part of our counterterrorism efforts,” Faisal noted.
The effort, he said, will be important for the long term regional stability and improvement of bilateral relations. The unilateral fencing of the nearly 2,600-kilometer Afghan frontier will be completed by the end of 2018, according to military officials who are supervising the construction effort.