Mohammad Hanif Atmar says Kabul is hopeful that Islamabad will persuade the Taliban to return to talks again.
ISLAMABAD: (UrduPoint/Pakistan Point News-July 9th, 2021) Afghanistan's Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammad Hanif Atmar on Friday asked Pakistan to play role in ending the raging conflict in Afghanistan.
Mohammad Hanif Atmar said that Kabul was hopeful that Islamabad would persuade the Taliban to return to talks again.
The situation in Afghanistan is getting worse with withdrawal of the US force. The Taliban launched a blistering campaign and captured key districts of the country, radically confident as US and other foreign forces started leaving the country.
“Kabul has great expectations from Pakistan,” said Atmar in an exclusive interview to a local private tv channel. He said: “We are hopeful that Pakistan will help Afghanistan stop support to Taliban and end their brutal campaign,” said the Afghan minister.
He said that Washington signed an agreement with the Taliban with honest intentions but the Taliban did not fulfill their part of the deal and deceived the entire world.
The Minister said: “The Taliban are making a huge mistake. All of us have extended a hand of friendship towards them,”. He also said that Afghan government was telling the Taliban to honour the Doha peace deal, pointing out that Kabul had fulfilled its obligations of the deal when it came to the prisoners exchange and ensuring foreign troops leave the country.
He went on to say that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Al-Qaeda had banded forces with other terrorist elements and were fighting alongside the Taliban against the government of Afghanistan.
Atmar said: “We are monitoring links between the TTP, Taliban and Al-Qaeda on a daily basis. He said he was sure that these ties certainly existed.
Speaking about the militants, Atmar said the Afghan government has divided these groups of foreign fighters into three categories.
“The first among them are the [militant groups] that are fighting for a global agenda, such as Al-Qaeda and Daesh," he said. “Al-Qaeda and Daesh militants have been present in the region where Pakistan and Afghanistan are situated,” he added.
Atmer said his government was aware of the locations in Pakistan and Afghanistan where Al-Qaeda members were killed and arrested.
He stated that there were regional players, pointing out that the TTP, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, ITIM, the Ansarullah and Jundullah were also fighting with them [Taliban].
He said that these groups for threat for the entire region and not Afghanistan. “Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, India, Russia and the middle East are in danger from these groups,” he explained.
Atmer said the government of Afghanistan spoke about regional cooperation as "there are no good or bad terrorists and they all are the same".
"Peace between Afghanistan and the Taliban will ensure these elements do not find a safe haven in Afghanistan," he added.
Taliban launch blistering campaign as US, other foreign forces prepare to leave Afghanistan
With the US pullout 90% complete, according to the Pentagon, the insurgents have launched a blistering campaign to capture new territory, and fears are mounting that Afghan forces will collapse without vital American air support.
President Ashraf Ghani had said the government had the capacity to handle the situation, but admitted difficulties lay ahead.
"What we are witnessing is one of the most complicated stages of the transition," he had said in a speech in Kabul.
"Legitimacy is ours. God is with us."
The withdrawal of US and NATO troops — after two decades in the country — has drastically emboldened the Taliban, who appear to be pressing for a full military victory.
