Pak both ‘patron and victim’ of terror: Afghanistan

Afghan Ambassador to the US Said T Jawad charged the Pak Army of not willing to take the terrorists head on though it has the capacity to do so.

Describing Pakistan as both a “patron and victim” of terrorism,Afghan Ambassador to the US Said T Jawad charged the Pak Army of not willing to take the terrorists head on though it has the capacity to do so.

He said the civilian government is finding itself helpless due to the unwillingness of the Pak Army to fight terrorism.

Jawad said the political and civilian leadership and the two democratically-elected Presidents of have never had such close and trustful relations and extensive bilateral engagement in the history of two countries as they do on Saturday.

“We hope that this will be matched by delivery by Pakistan’s security institution. We see the civilian government committed to fight extremism,but is unable to deliver. The Pakistan Army has the capacity to deliver,but it is not committed to fight terrorism,” Jawad said

delivering a speech on Afghanistan at the prestigious South Asian Studies Program of the John Hopkins University.

“Pakistan is both a patron and a victim of the Taliban and terrorism,” he said and added that Afghanistan is concerned about the security situation in Pakistan. We are in favour of cooperating with Pakistan on a trilateral basis,such as the US-Afghan-Pakistan trilateral meetings,NATO,Afghanistan and Pakistan trilateral meetings and the Turkey,Afghanistan and Pakistan forum to fight extremism and terrorism in the region,” he said.

“We have had more than 26 trilateral meetings with the Pakistan military and intelligence in the past six years,with no results at all,” Jawad said.

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The Afghan Ambassador praised India’s role in redevelopment in the country. “Afghanistan and India have historically had close friendly relations. We appreciate India’s generous contributions to the reconstruction projects in Afghanistan including road-building,institutional capacity building,training and higher education. Even India is concerned about the prospects of further instability,” he said.

Aware of Pakistan sensitivities and its animosity with India,Jawad hoped the relations between Islamabad and New Delhi would improve.

“We know that Pakistan’s military view on Afghanistan is still in context to their relations with India. We are encouraging our US,NATO and regional friends to work harder to reduce the trust deficit between India and Pakistan. Ambassador Holbrooke can play an important role in this regard,” Jawad said.