After harbouring 9/11 mastermind Osama Bin Laden on its soil, Pakistan has now declared Al-Qaeda a threat. Now a similar duplicity has been exposed on Islamabad’s stand on Taliban takeover in Afghanistan.
While on one one hand, Pakistan is aiding Taliban fighters against Panjshir forces, at the same time its Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi is raising concerns over Afghanistan turning into a terror-hub.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that Al Qaeda is a threat and that Pakistan will not harbour it.
While chairing the foreign ministers’ virtual meeting on the Afghan issue also attended by China, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, he said well-being of the Afghan people must remain the focus, as they had suffered enormously due to prolonged conflict and instability for decades, according to the Foreign Ministry of Pakistan.
The irony in the statement issued by Pakistan’s foreign minister is evident, given that Pakistan has harboured terrorists on their soil for a very long time now and has even helped the Taliban to regain control in Afghanistan.
Qureshi also went on to say that Pakistan will not let Afghanistan become a terror hub and called sermons to protect Afghanistan.
On Wednesday, India also apprised Russia of Pakistan’s ISI links with terror groups such as Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad in Afghanistan in their first detailed and extensive review of the situation in Afghanistan involving the Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Defence and security agencies after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban.
India also highlighted Pakistan’s links with the Taliban and other international terrorist groups operating in Afghanistan, and the special responsibility that Pakistan bears to ensure that Afghanistan soil is not used to spread terrorism.
