LONDON – Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has described the Pakistani Taliban as the “greatest threat to the region” and said his country is facing an “undeclared war” from Pakistan, which did not accept his offer of peace.
Delivering a lecture on the theme “Fifth Wave of Political Violence” at the Royal United Services Institute, Ghani expressed frustration at Afghanistan becoming a battleground for fighters from various countries.
“Who fights in my country? Chinese, Chechens, Uzbeks, Tajiks, but the greatest one of course is a huge movement from Pakistan.
Then, of course all the rejects from the Arab world are sent on to us,” he said.
Ghani added, “Our fundamental issue is peace with Pakistan. There has been undeclared war against us and that I framed during my visit.I went to Pakistan.
I invested enormous amount of political capital to make sure the road to peace was the proper road.Our extended hand was not shaken.”
Ghani said, “Who are we posing a threat to? Do you know of a single Afghan who has blown himself up? Why are so many being sent to us? The TTP (Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan) is becoming the greatest threat to the region.” He rejected the impression that Afghanistan is becoming a safe haven for Al-Qaeda but admitted the group is networking.
There is also a “displacement effect”, he said, noting the displacement of people caused by the Pakistani operations along the Durand Line, largely in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“TTP is a displacement phenomenon due to the operations of the Pakistani army.We have gone after the leadership of TTP multiple times.If Mullah Fazlullah has seven lives, that’s not our fault,” he said.
“But can the state of Pakistan point out a single operation against the Haqqanis or the Taliban leadership? Are their addresses not known? Where do they congregate, where do they meet, do they not meet openly, do they not recruit openly, do they not receive arms openly?”
Ghani told the audience his commander of Helmand province went to Quetta and told his counterpart, who was the former director of military intelligence: “Would you like to take a tour, so we can point you to specific locations?” He kindly refused the offer.“We do not differentiate between good and bad terrorists, and consequently we face terrorism.
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Ghani went on to say: “When Afghans face battles of survival, we aggregate, congregate and we defeat and we will defeat this wave.Don’t have any doubt about it.
Look at our history, but the price is unbelievably high.”
SPEECH INTERRUPTED: President Ghani’s speech was interrupted in the UK-based Royal United Services Institute as a fight broke out between his security guards and one of the two protesters who started interference as the president was delivering the speech.
There have been mixed reactions regarding the scuffle as the video went immediately viral on social media.
The social media users mainly focused on two aspects of the scuffle, condemning both the protesters and the presidential guards for inappropriate behaviour, insisting that the inappropriate use of words was a humiliating act against the head of the state.
They also condemned the use of force against the protesters by the presidential guards as they are seen in the video punching the second man who protested against the president.
The scuffle started with one of the protesters interfering during his speech, calling the president a liar, claiming that he has failed to fulfill his promises to the Afghan people.
The second protester intervenes shortly after the first man is taken out by the security guards but the brawl leads to a physical fight as the security guards try to calm the man.
This comes as scores of people staged demonstrations in London city on Thursday to protest against the government’s decision to change the route of Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Tajikistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TUTAP) power project from central Bamyan to Salang.http://nation.com.pk/national/14-May-2016/afghanistan-facing-undeclared-war-from-pakistan-ghani
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