Pakistan’s lack of will in dealing with insurgents stems from its “India-phobia”; its military and civilian tensions; and its trust deficit with neighbours, Afghanistan’s foreign minister, Salahuddin Rabbani, has said while demanding the dismantling of “safe havens” in Pakistan to defeat terrorism.
In a talk at the Council on Foreign Relations on Tuesday, Rabbani said out of these three reasons, Afghanistan and Pakistan can work on the issue of the trust deficit.
After the formation of the national unity government, we did our best to go and work with Pakistan and we tried to open a new chapter of relations. On India phobia and the military and civilian tensions of the Pakistani leaders, this is something that they (Pakistan) have to sort it out.Salahuddin Rabbani, Foreign Minister, Afghanistan
A country that spoils the unity of the South Asian nations and brings instability in the region, should be boycotted even if it means boycotting SAARC summit scheduled to be held in Pakistan in November, Afghanistan’s Ambassador to India told NDTV in an exclusive interview.
When Dr Shaida Mohammad Abdali was asked if India, Afghanistan and Bangladesh should together boycott the SAARC meeting, he said:
See we have to make sure that we bring the maximum number of countries and I am sure at the regional level most of the countries in South Asia are in line with what we think. Therefore, the effort should be comprehensive and we should single out a country that spoils our unity and regional stability and peace and that stops integration.
The ambassador said that the SAARC summit stands to promote “regional unity and integrity and peace”, insisting that if “SAARC is sabotaged then we must rule out the country that does it.”
Coming down heavily on Pakistan, Abdali said that it was an issue of state-sponsored terrorism.
It is no more an issue of non-state actors that we have been hearing about. Now we have ample proof of state sponsored terrorism. We have to draw a line between a country that sponsors terrorism and a country that is an ally in the war against terrorism. This difference must be made and should be made immediately.
(With inputs from PTI and NDTV)
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