ISLAMABAD: Pakistan-Afghanistan ties on Monday looked to be once again in crisis as an aggressive and angry Afghan President Ashraf Ghani launched a blistering attack against Islamabad accusing it of not doing enough to eliminate Taliban bases from which attacks were being launched on his country.

Islamabad immediately rejected the allegations saying it has been extending its fullest cooperation to Afghanistan in combating terrorism.

President Ghani, while talking to journalists in Kabul after the attack on airport – the latest in a string of terrorist strikes in Kabul over the past few days, literally put Pakistan on notice about the future direction of the relationship and said no to Islamabad’s role in talks with Taliban militants.

“We hoped for peace, but war is declared against us from Pakistani territory; this in fact puts into a display a clear hostility against a neighbouring country. … Our relation with Pakistan is based on our national interests, on top of which comes security and safety of our people. If our people continue to be killed, relations lose meaning and I hope it will not happen,” Mr Ghani said as he switched between anger, frustration and hope during his press talk.

President Ghani wants elimination of Taliban bases in Pakistan, says no to peace talks facilitated by Islamabad

Although security situation in Afghanistan has remained challenging since the start of this year’s offensive by Taliban, the latest attacks in Kabul have posed the gravest crisis in bilateral relations that saw significant improvement after Mr Ghani assumed presidency late last year.

Mr Ghani, who is credited for turning over a new leaf in ties with Pakistan, had politically invested a lot in this regard. The scathing tirade from Mr Ghani, therefore, took many by surprise.

The latest terrorist attacks, the president said, was a turning point for Afghanistan.

Mr Ghani had a day earlier spoken to both Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif over the aggravating situation.

“In my conversation last night with Pakistan’s prime minister and the Chief of Army Staff, I made it clear that the government of Pakistan should have the same definition of terrorism in regard to Afghanistan, just as it has for its own,” Mr Ghani said about his conversation with Pakistani leaders of Sunday night.

An Afghan delegation, presumably including senior security and intelligence officials, will visit Islamabad on Thursday with a list of actions that Kabul wants to be taken immediately for addressing its concerns.

In planning to send a delegation to Pakistan, Mr Ghani seems to have taken a leaf out of Pakistan’s book. The government had immediately after the Dec 16 Army Public School attack, dispatched Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif to Kabul to press for action against Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan. Mr Ghani had then obliged by initiating an operation in Kunar and is now waiting to see if Islamabad reciprocates on this occasion.

“The decisions that Pakistani government will be making in the next few weeks will be as significant to affect bilateral relations for the next decades (sic),” Mr Ghani said, adding that PM Sharif had promised him “an action plan against terrorism”, whose finer details and implementation would be discussed during the upcoming visit of Afghan delegation.

His remarks hinted at his expectations.

“Pakistan still remains a venue and ground for gatherings from which mercenaries send us messages of war. The incidents of the past two months in general and the recent days in particular show that the suicide training camps and the bomb making facilities used to target and murder our innocent people still operate, as in the past, in Pakistan,” Mr Ghani said, adding that he wanted Pakistan to stop the activities of those who had been waging rebellion against Afghanistan from its soil.

“There will be no cultural talk, no political talk. Our only priority is security,” he bluntly said.

Pakistan has since last year successfully undertaken military operations in tribal areas bordering Afghanistan ending terrorist bases located there. But Afghans say that the Afghanistan focused groups were spared and allowed to relocate. Moreover, they blame that Taliban leadership is based in Pakistani cities.

But something that will be deeply unsettling for Pakistan, Mr Ghani rejected a Pakistan-brokered peace and reconciliation process.

“Peace and reconciliation is the responsibility of the State of Afghanistan alone and it will take it forward according to its own ways and means. We don’t want Pakistan to bring Taliban to the peace talks,” he said.

Pakistan has long sought a role in the Afghan peace process. Following the upturn in ties this year, Pakistan hosted the first round of peace talks in Murree on July 7. The second round was planned for July 31, but was cancelled following the disclosure that Taliban chief Mullah Omar was not alive.

The confirmation that Mullah Omar had died years ago, Mr Ghani said, proved that the war in Afghanistan was “fought for and by others”.

FO RESPONSE: In a muted response, the Foreign Office said it had taken note of Mr Ghani’s press conference.

Pakistan, the FO said, was committed to maintaining good neighbourly relations with Afghanistan and all other regional countries.

“As underscored by the Prime Minister of Pakistan during his visit to Kabul on May 12, 2015, Pakistan considers enemies of Afghanistan as its own enemies and has been extending its fullest cooperation to Afghanistan in combating terrorism,” the FO statement said.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2015

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