Thursday, December 14, 2006

Afghanistan complains about Pakistani terrorism, again


Afghan President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly complained about Pakistani military support for the Radical Islamic terrorist group Al Qaeda and their Taliban allies. The situation is getting increasingly desperate, and Karzai is running out of patience.

India has been complaining about Pakistani terrorism for close to three decades now. In spite of mountains of hard evidence of Pakistani terrorism provided by India to the international community -- such as terrorists captured alive, deadbodies with Pakistani identification documents, electronic communication intercepts showing instructions to terrorists in India coming from handlers in Pakistan, names addresses and phone numbers of well-known terrorists like Dawood Ibrahim and Maulana Masood Azhar living in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, satellite photos of terrorist training camps in Pakistan, evidence from satellite and ground-based sensors of movements of terrorists from Pakistan into India, etc etc -- no action has been taken.

When will the international community drop its towering hypocrisy and dishonesty and join hands to punish the decades of terrorism and Crimes Against Humanity that Pakistan has been carrying out all over South Asia with impunity ?

The Times of India reports:

'Pakistan hopes to make slaves out of us'
[14 Dec, 2006 1351hrs ISTAP]

KANDAHAR: In September, Afghan President Hamid Karzai spoke of ``brotherly relations'' with Pakistan. But this week Karzai dumped diplomatic formalities for rhetorical fireballs, a possible cry for attention from the United States as more Afghans are killed in spiralling violence, analysts said.

Karzai's verbal barrage against Pakistan started in a tearful speech on Sunday, when he said terrorists from across the border are killing Afghan children. He ratcheted up his criticism on Tuesday, directly charging the Pakistan government with supporting the Taliban. On Wednesday he again took direct aim at Afghanistan's eastern neighbour.

“Pakistan hopes to make slaves out of us, but we will not surrender,'' Karzai said in a school courtyard, in a 90-minute speech punctuated by frequent applause from several hundred schoolboys.

Some analysts say Karzai is venting his frustration in the wake of a wave of suicide attacks and a surge in violence. Afghanistan has seen more than 100 suicide attacks this year, a record number, and close to 4,000 people have died in insurgency-related violence. Afghan and Western officials have long accused Pakistan of not doing enough to stop terrorists from training on its soil and then crossing the border to attack Afghanistan. Several suspects recently arrested for allegedly planning suicide bomb attacks have come from Pakistan.

“The fact is, the ISI does not consider the Taliban as enemies, and US officials are simply bluffing themselves by failing to see that reality,'' said Husain Haqqani, a former adviser to three Pakistani prime ministers and author of “Pakistan from Mosque to Military.''

``Karzai has been trying to persuade the Americans to put more pressure on Pakistan, occasionally using polite language interspersed with stronger comments. But now he seems to be at the end of his rope,'' Haqqani said in an e-mail interview from Boston University, where he heads the Centre for International Relations.

Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said the Taliban are operating well inside Afghanistan and reiterated that Islamabad is standing up to the problem.

“Pakistan is doing whatever is needed to counter extremism and terrorism and not to allow its territory to be used for militant activities in Afghanistan. We have deployed 80,000 troops. We are taking military action,'' she said in a statement on Wednesday.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri said Karzai was misinformed and was merely looking for a scapegoat. ``To those who say this, I would like to say that it is a common human reaction when you have difficulties, you find somebody else to blame. I am not talking about President Karzai,'' Kasuri said on Wednesday in Islamabad.

A report released on Monday by the International Crisis Group think-tank said a controversial peace pact reached with Islamic militants in Pakistan's North Waziristan had created a virtual Taliban mini-state where mullahs dispense justice and fighters were launching cross-border attacks into Afghanistan.




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