NEW DELHI: Should Pakistan's ISI, the country's powerful intelligence agency, be blacklisted? The Afghan national Security Council has strongly recommended that the ISI should be declared a terrorist entity. The strongly-worded official Afghan reaction will affect outside efforts to stitch an agreement between Afghanistan and Pakistan on bringing the Taliban into government.
On Sunday, Rahmatullah Nabil, Afghanistan's deputy national security adviser, was quoted as saying in an interview, "The interesting question is why is a terrorist blacklisted but the person who issues the Fatwa for them [to act] or who provides havens to them not blacklisted?"
He added, "Against these people, organizations at a global scale should unite. People of Afghanistan and the government of Afghanistan will continue their voice of peace, but unfortunately there is not much hope from Pakistan's side and therefore we should be more united, more mobilized, and not be deceived by them." This was the most public outburst from the Afghan government after the chief of the Pakistan Ulema Council Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi declared that the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan was "legitimate".
Nabil was echoed by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who, on Monday stated that Islamabad had not taken any "practical steps" towards tackling terrorism in Afghanistan coming from Pakistan.
For those following the minutiae of the reconciliation process, the Afghanistan-Pakistan relationship is not doing as well as it should. It was only a few months ago that the chairman of the High Peace Council, Salahuddin Rabbani took a "peace process roadmap" to Islamabad for support on a reconciliation programme with the Taliban. Western governments have been on an overdrive to get Afghans toe the Pakistani line on a peace process that seeks to accommodate Pakistan's "Taliban" concerns.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/Blacklist-ISI-as-a-terrorist-entity-demands-Kabul/articleshow/18841399.cms
On Sunday, Rahmatullah Nabil, Afghanistan's deputy national security adviser, was quoted as saying in an interview, "The interesting question is why is a terrorist blacklisted but the person who issues the Fatwa for them [to act] or who provides havens to them not blacklisted?"
He added, "Against these people, organizations at a global scale should unite. People of Afghanistan and the government of Afghanistan will continue their voice of peace, but unfortunately there is not much hope from Pakistan's side and therefore we should be more united, more mobilized, and not be deceived by them." This was the most public outburst from the Afghan government after the chief of the Pakistan Ulema Council Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi declared that the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan was "legitimate".
Nabil was echoed by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who, on Monday stated that Islamabad had not taken any "practical steps" towards tackling terrorism in Afghanistan coming from Pakistan.
For those following the minutiae of the reconciliation process, the Afghanistan-Pakistan relationship is not doing as well as it should. It was only a few months ago that the chairman of the High Peace Council, Salahuddin Rabbani took a "peace process roadmap" to Islamabad for support on a reconciliation programme with the Taliban. Western governments have been on an overdrive to get Afghans toe the Pakistani line on a peace process that seeks to accommodate Pakistan's "Taliban" concerns.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/Blacklist-ISI-as-a-terrorist-entity-demands-Kabul/articleshow/18841399.cms
