ISLAMABAD - Pakistan yesterday snubbed Afghanistan after President Ashraf Ghani hurled “groundless allegations” against Islamabad. Responding to the “baseless allegations” made by the Afghan leadership against Pakistan, Foreign Office spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said Pakistan had conveyed its serious concerns to the Afghan side by making a strong demarche with the Ambassador of Afghanistan in Islamabad on the recent irresponsible statements and baseless allegations made by the Afghan leadership.
He emphasized that groundless accusations erode trust and vitiate the environment between the two brotherly countries and disregard constructive role being played by Pakistan in facilitating the Afghan peace process.
Earlier, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, in an interview with a German magazine, alleged that Pakistan “operated an organised system of support” for the Taliban. He claimed the Taliban “receive logistics there, their finances are there and recruitment is there.”
He further said: “The names of the various decision-making bodies of the Taliban are Quetta Shura, Miramshah Shura and Peshawar Shura, named after the Pakistani cities where they are located.
There is a deep relationship with the state,” Ghani told German Der Spiegel magazine. He believed peace will primarily be decided upon regionally, and “I believe we are at a crucial moment of rethinking. It is first and foremost a matter of getting Pakistan on board. The US now plays only a minor role.
