KABUL, Sept 13: The Afghan government on Wednesday angrily rejected remarks by President Pervez Musharraf that the Taliban had its “roots” in the Afghan people, saying it was a creation of Pakistan.

The Pakistani leader made the comment in Brussels on Tuesday.

“Both in Afghanistan and in the international community, everybody knows that the Taliban were created as a political, military movement by Pakistan’s intelligence ... and is still being supported by certain circles across the border,” an Afghan foreign ministry statement said.

This outside financial and logistical support was the “only way they could disrupt peace and stability” in Afghanistan, a translation of a Dari-language statement said.

The ministry added that a comment by Musharraf that the Taliban — a “killing minority” — was a Pashtun movement was an “insult” to people of that ethnic group who supported peace and stability for reconstruction.

The president’s latest remarks were “entirely far from the truth, unfriendly and opposite of those commitments that he made during his last visit to our country,” the statement said.—AFP