KABUL: Afghanistan's intelligence agency claims Pakistan was involved in last week's attacks on Kabul that killed more than 50 people and wounded hundreds.

Hassib Sediqi, the spokesman for the National Directorate of Security, said Wednesday that Afghan authorities have confirmed “Pakistani military interference” in the attacks last Friday.

Sediqi says “special circles of the Pakistani military were behind all those attacks.” He claims the Pakistanis were working through the Haqqani network, one of the most brutal militant groups in Afghanistan.

There was no immediate reaction from Islamabad, which has in the past denied such accusations from Afghanistan. Islamabad wields considerable influence over the Taliban, which have waged a 14-year war against Kabul.

Read: Ashraf Ghani slams Pakistan over recent Kabul attacks.

The development comes soon after Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah in statements a day apart accused Pakistan of implicit support to Taliban, who have recently been engaged in brutal offensives in Afghanistan, which has been struggling to combat terrorism ever since the withdrawal of Nato forces.

Also read: Abdullah Abdullah accuses Pakistan of helping Afghanistan's enemies.

Pakistan recently brokered a first round of peace talks between the Aghan government and the insurgent group, which took place in Murree. But negotiations fell into jeopardy after the announced death of Taliban chief Mullah Omar.

According to Islamabad, a second round of peace talks has been postponed on the Taliban's insistence after confirmation of Mullah Omar's death sent the militant group into a leadership crisis, with reports of internal conflicts on the issue of Omar's successor.

Take a look: Peace talks in jeopardy: Afghan Taliban postpone second round of talks.

Meanwhile, the Taliban on Wednesday said the spike in attacks in Kabul was designed to prove the Taliban's new leader was firmly in charge, the group said, but Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour's position remains precarious as clerics and top militants meet secretly to decide whether to back him.

Divisions are deep over Mansour's appointment as head of the hardline Islamist movement fighting since its ouster in 2001 to overthrow Afghanistan's Western-backed government and re-establish strict Islamic rule.

A Taliban spokesman confirmed two of three big suicide bombs last week within 24 hours were in response to rumours the insurgents had been weakened by disputes following confirmation of the death of founder Mullah Mohammad Omar.

Know more: Taliban leadership struggle fuels wave of attacks in Afghanistan.

Opinion

Editorial

Ties with Tehran
Updated 24 Apr, 2024

Ties with Tehran

Tomorrow, if ties between Washington and Beijing nosedive, and the US asks Pakistan to reconsider CPEC, will we comply?
Working together
24 Apr, 2024

Working together

PAKISTAN’S democracy seems adrift, and no one understands this better than our politicians. The system has gone...
Farmers’ anxiety
24 Apr, 2024

Farmers’ anxiety

WHEAT prices in Punjab have plummeted far below the minimum support price owing to a bumper harvest, reckless...
By-election trends
Updated 23 Apr, 2024

By-election trends

Unless the culture of violence and rigging is rooted out, the credibility of the electoral process in Pakistan will continue to remain under a cloud.
Privatising PIA
23 Apr, 2024

Privatising PIA

FINANCE Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb’s reaffirmation that the process of disinvestment of the loss-making national...
Suffering in captivity
23 Apr, 2024

Suffering in captivity

YET another animal — a lioness — is critically ill at the Karachi Zoo. The feline, emaciated and barely able to...