Afghanistan’s chief executive officer, Abdullah Abdullah, is calling on Pakistan to keep its promise to crack down on Islamic extremists. The extremists have been blamed for carrying out cross-border attacks and destabilising the impoverished and war-torn country.
Abdullah Abdullah’s address on Monday night to the UN’s General Assembly came hours after a fast-moving assault by the Taliban captured the strategic northern Afghan city of Kunduz in a multi-pronged attack involving hundreds of fighters. This is the first time the insurgents have seized a major urban area since the 2001 invasion led by the US
Abdullah confirmed that some attackers had come from abroad.
We call on Pakistan to do what its leadership promised to us a few months ago when they agreed to crack down on known terror outfits.
— Abdullah Abdullah, Chief Executive, Afghanistan
Abdullah also cited the Islamic State as among the extremist groups sowing terror in Afghanistan. He also added that without external support “this guerrilla-style low intensity warfare would have been history by now.”
The Afghan leader expressed optimism that the insurgency would be defeated, saying “these attempts will eventually fail to subdue us.”
On Saturday, Adviser to the Pakistan Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz, said that the peace and prosperity of Afghanistan was essential for Pakistan’s own security. He stressed that Pakistan’s efforts to persuade the Taliban to participate in peace talks should not be interpreted as indirect endorsement of the current surge of violence in Afghanistan.
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