The Foreign Office (FO) on Wednesday rejected the allegations levelled by Afghan leadership against Pakistan regarding the recent attack in Kandahar.
“Pakistan rejects baseless and unfounded allegations regarding the latest Kandahar attacks. No hard evidence or intelligence-related information has been shared to date with Pakistan to substantiate such claims,” the FO said in a statement. “In the presence of elaborate mechanisms under Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Stability (APAPPS) to mutually and effectively address and investigate any such unfortunate incidents, it would have been more appropriate to invoke the relevant arrangement instead of resorting to media blame game which is contrary to the seven principles of cooperation agreed between the two sides, earlier this year,” it added.
Earlier, the Afghan leadership had claimed that the attack was plotted in Pakistan. General Abdul Razeq, one of Afghanistan’s most powerful security commanders, was killed on Thursday in a shooting attack by a bodyguard in Kandahar province following a high-level security meeting ahead of general elections in the country. US Army Brigadier General Jeffrey Smiley was confirmed as one of the two Americans wounded in the attack. Top NATO commander in Afghanistan General Scott Miller, however, escaped unhurt.
Taliban had claimed responsibility for the assault, which decapitated the security command in one of the country’s most strategically important and contested provinces.
Published in Daily Times, October 25th 2018.
