Former President Hamid Karzai on Saturday harshly criticized remarks by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on terrorist groups’ activities in Afghanistan, calling the statement untrue and reiterating that no terrorist group is operating in the country.
Taking to Twitter, Karzai said incidents of the past several years have proven that the reality of the issue is contrary to what has been told by the Pakistani premier.
“This means that Afghanistan is a victim of terrorism and terrorists’ safe havens have been in Pakistan for decades and have been used against Afghanistan while being under the direct support of the Pakistani government,” Karzai, who is in Kabul, said.
Karzai, who was Afghanistan’s president for nearly 13 years, advised the Pakistani prime minister to stop baseless propaganda against Afghanistan, and instead, make efforts, as a good neighbor, to ensure continued and good relations between the two countries.
In his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, Pakistan’s prime minister said his country shares the international community’s concerns about the threat posed by terrorist groups operating in Afghanistan, naming Daesh, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, al-Qaeda and others.
“They all need to be dealt with comprehensively, with the support and cooperation of the Interim Afghan authorities,” he said, urging the international community that, in turn, it should address Afghanistan’s “dire humanitarian needs.”
He said that at this point, isolating the Taliban could aggravate the suffering of the Afghan people, who are already destitute.
“We must avoid another civil war, rising terrorism, drug trafficking, or new refugees — which none of Afghanistan’s neighbors are in a position to accommodate,” Sharif said.
Pakistan is accused of harboring terrorist and insurgent groups like the Taliban, TTP and others. But the country has always rejected such remarks.
“Over the last two decades, we have suffered more than 80,000 casualties and over $150 billion in economic losses due to terrorist attacks,” Sharif said, calling Pakistan a main victim of terrorism.
