pakistani342
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2013
- Messages
- 3,485
- Reaction score
- 6
- Country
- Location
And, it begins again.
Article here, excerpts below:
In a sign that Afghanistan is rethinking its outreach efforts to Pakistan, President Ashraf Ghani has demanded that Islamabad end its longstanding support for the Afghan Taliban.
In a letter to Pakistani civilian and military leaders, Ghani has requested specific steps to end the Taliban's sanctuary in their country and help in addressing their violent campaign inside Afghanistan.
Insiders at the Arg presidential palace in Kabul have confirmed that Ghani wrote a letter to Pakistani leaders this week asking them to prove their sincerity in backing the Afghan peace process by taking seven steps in the next three weeks.
"Islamabad should issue an official declaration condemning the launch of the Taliban [spring] offensive," an Afghan official familiar with the letter told RFE/RL's Gandhara website. Pakistan should "extend counterterrorism operations to the Haqqani network and arrest those responsible for the recent terrorist activities inside Afghanistan," the official said.
In one of the most revealing demands, Ghani has asked Pakistan's military leadership to issue a "directive" to deny sanctuary for the Afghan Taliban.
...
Another major demand included "placing Quetta and Peshawar shura (the Taliban leadership council) members under house arrest and initiating legal proceedings against them for threatening security of friendly states," said the official, who requested anonymity.
He said Ghani has also asked Islamabad to agree to an exchange of prisoners, deny Taliban combatants medical treatment inside Pakistan, and limit the sale of fertilizers and electrical switches that can be used in detonating improvised explosive devices (IEDs) -- a common killer of Afghan troops and civilians.
The letter is a marked turnaround for the Afghan leader, who made cultivating a cooperative, bilateral relationship with Pakistan one of his key foreign policy initiatives -- and a way of ending his country's decades-old war -- after assuming office in September.
...
In what is being viewed as a last-ditch diplomatic effort to salvage relations with Ghani, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his military chief visited Kabul on May 12.
Article here, excerpts below:
In a sign that Afghanistan is rethinking its outreach efforts to Pakistan, President Ashraf Ghani has demanded that Islamabad end its longstanding support for the Afghan Taliban.
In a letter to Pakistani civilian and military leaders, Ghani has requested specific steps to end the Taliban's sanctuary in their country and help in addressing their violent campaign inside Afghanistan.
Insiders at the Arg presidential palace in Kabul have confirmed that Ghani wrote a letter to Pakistani leaders this week asking them to prove their sincerity in backing the Afghan peace process by taking seven steps in the next three weeks.
"Islamabad should issue an official declaration condemning the launch of the Taliban [spring] offensive," an Afghan official familiar with the letter told RFE/RL's Gandhara website. Pakistan should "extend counterterrorism operations to the Haqqani network and arrest those responsible for the recent terrorist activities inside Afghanistan," the official said.
In one of the most revealing demands, Ghani has asked Pakistan's military leadership to issue a "directive" to deny sanctuary for the Afghan Taliban.
...
Another major demand included "placing Quetta and Peshawar shura (the Taliban leadership council) members under house arrest and initiating legal proceedings against them for threatening security of friendly states," said the official, who requested anonymity.
He said Ghani has also asked Islamabad to agree to an exchange of prisoners, deny Taliban combatants medical treatment inside Pakistan, and limit the sale of fertilizers and electrical switches that can be used in detonating improvised explosive devices (IEDs) -- a common killer of Afghan troops and civilians.
The letter is a marked turnaround for the Afghan leader, who made cultivating a cooperative, bilateral relationship with Pakistan one of his key foreign policy initiatives -- and a way of ending his country's decades-old war -- after assuming office in September.
...
In what is being viewed as a last-ditch diplomatic effort to salvage relations with Ghani, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his military chief visited Kabul on May 12.
