Angry Afghan leader assails Pakistan as haven for deadly Taliban attacks

KABUL —In an abrupt shift from his fence-mending outreach with Pakistan, a visibly angry Afghan President Ashraf Ghani lashed out at Pakistani leaders Monday for allegedly harboring Islamist insurgents carrying out deadly cross-border attacks.

Speaking to journalists in his palace — just hours after a suicide bomber struck outside Kabul’s international airport and days after a 24-hour blitz of attacks in the capital — Ghani all but declared that Pakistan was behind the Taliban-linked assaults and many others before them.

“Since I took office, Afghans have been waiting for Pakistan to show their tangible commitment” to peace, Ghani said, speaking in Afghan Pashto. “But attacks in the past two months and now in Kabul have shown us that it is still the same as the past. . . . The sanctuaries of the suicide attackers are still in Pakistan.”

Ghani, who spoke by phone Sunday night with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, said he gave a “clear and positive” message to Sharif that “the continuation of this situation is not acceptable.”

Pakistan originally backed the Taliban and later sheltered many of its leaders after its repressive Islamist regime in Kabul was overthrown in 2001. When the militants regrouped, Afghan leaders repeatedly accused Pakistan’s military and intelligence agencies of abetting their bloody campaign. Pakistan has always denied the charges. - Read More at washingtonpost

Angry Afghan leader assails Pakistan as haven for deadly Taliban attacks