WASHINGTON, June 24: Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s claim that insurgents received encouragement from Afghanistan’s neighbours will not lead to increased US pressure on Pakistan to go after the militants, the US State Department said.
In a news conference in Kabul on Thursday, Mr Karzai claimed that the sources of the insurgents’ “money, training, equipment and motivation” were outside Afghanistan in some neighbouring countries.
Asked if this statement could lead to increase US pressure on Pakistan, a State Department official said: “Pakistan is working very hard to deal with this problem and I don’t think this indicates increased pressure on Pakistan.” He said Afghanistan had a long history of interference from its neighbouring countries and the Afghans were very sensitive to such interferences.
The official said that everybody in the region, including Pakistan, recognized extremists-led violence as a problem confronting many countries and were taking steps to deal with it.
In his news conference, Mr Karzai also called for a reassessment of the coalition‘s strategy for fighting terrorism, saying the current approach of hunting down militants does not focus on the root causes of this menace.
Asked to comment on Mr Karzai’s statement, the official told Dawn: “Coalition forces cooperate closely with Afghan authorities in employing the most effective and appropriate tactics to deal with the Taliban and other insurgents.”
Mr Karzai’s statement, he said, would not cause any tension between Afghan and coalition authorities.
