Taliban accuses Pak of trying to impose ‘mysterious projects’ on Afghanistan

KABUL: Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi has accused Pakistan of trying to impose “mysterious projects” on Kabul and using economic pressure, border shutdown and political leverage to destabilize the Taliban administration, local media reported on Thursday.  While addressing a gathering in Kabul on Wednesday, Muttaqi said that Pakistan hoped that people in Afghanistan would be angry and pressure the Taliban administration after the former shut trade routes. However, he said that Pakistan’s border shutdown did not cause shortage or unrest in Afghanistan and said that other regional partners supplied essential goods to Kabul, Afghanistan’s leading news agency, Khaama Press reported. He said that Pakistan has been engaged in long-standing disputes with almost all of its neighbours and is pressurising Afghanistan with what he termed as “unrealistic and unacceptable” security demands. He stressed that the Taliban has already taken measures to address concerns of the Pakistani administration, including shifting Waziristani tribal families away from the frontier and deploying additional border forces in the past four years. He said Pakistan expects the Taliban to “deliver everything” while Islamabad itself is unable to resolve its own internal security problems. He also slammed Pakistan’s political system, stressing that decision-making is divided between civilian leaders and the military, making negotiations inconsistent and difficult. (IANS)

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