Afghanistan Times
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AT Monitoring Desk-KABUL: Germany’s newly appointed special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, called on Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani here the other day and discussed regional and national issues.
In the meeting, Salahuddin Rabbani felicitated the new Germany’s envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan and thanked her country for providing assistance to Afghanistan in different areas including economic, health and security.
Regarding the peace process with insurgents and relations with Pakistan, the Afghan foreign minister said the National Unity Government (NUG) has changed its policy regarding the reconciliation process with the militant groups and ties with Islamabad.
However, Islamabad was not cooperating with Kabul to push the peace process forward, he said.
The Germany’s envoy said that in her meetings with Pakistani officials, the latter emphasized on improving ties between Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as assured of facilitating the Afghan peace process.
In past ten days, relations between Kabul and Islamabad dropped to subzero level as Pakistan failed to prevent the Taliban from carrying out attacks in Afghanistan. Funeral prayers for the dead Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, were offered in several Pakistani cities.
Showing serious reaction over the cold-shoulder response of Pakistan about the new wave of violence leashed by the Taliban, President Ashraf Ghani in his address to the nation, on Monday, asked Islamabad categorically to take action against the Afghan insurgents who walk freely without any hindrance and enjoy safe havens in Pakistan.
Condemning the recent suicide attacks in Kabul City and other parts of the country, President Ghani said that Pakistan should shut offices of the Taliban, eliminate their safe havens, should not treat the injured militants in their hospitals, and bring the killers of Afghans to the court of justice.
President Ghani said that regional and global political players are well-aware of the wholeheartedly efforts of the Afghan government that were aimed to bring stability and peace. He went on to say that decisions taken by Islamabad in the coming weeks would determine future of the Afghan-Pak relations.
He said that Pakistan still serves as a fertile ground for gatherings from where militants send the “messages of war” to the Afghan government.
“The incidents of the past two months in general and the recent days in particular show that the suicide training camps and the bomb making facilities used to target and murder our innocent people still operate, as in the past, in Pakistan. Just as the incident in Peshawar and the killing of hundreds of innocent children in a school became a turning point in Pakistan, the recent incidents in Kabul and other provinces are no less and we call it a turning point for Afghanistan,” the president said.
Regarding the future peace talks strategy, the president said the government would not seek support of a second country to facilitate the reconciliation process, but it would be up to the Afghan authorities now to decide when to start the talks and with whom. He said that those who are ready to shun violence would be made part of the peace talks.
