Scapegoating Pakistan not helpful for Afghanistan: Pak envoy

Dozens of Afghans protest outside Pak embassy in Washington

WASHINGTON: While thousands of Afghans are protesting against their government in Kabul for failing to provide security in the wake of a deadly suicide attack, over a dozen Afghan-American took to the street outside the Pakistan embassy here late on Friday.

The protesters alleged that Pakistan was behind the Wednesday’s deadly attack in Kabul, which resulted in at least 90 deaths and over 350 injuries.

The protest remained peaceful and most of the embassy staff had left the building before the protesters gathered outside the main gate.

Protesters were holding placards and chanting slogans against Pakistan.

However talking to The News, Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States Aizaz Chaudhry condemned the barbaric attack and vehemently denied accusations of his country’s involvement.

The attack, one of the deadliest in Kabul in recent years, sparked widespread protests by angry Afghans who are demanding the “incompetent” administration to step down.

In almost a routine pattern, Afghan intelligence blamed Pakistan for the attack, a claim which was strongly rejected as baseless by Islamabad.

“It is unfortunate that the NDS has the tendency to blame Pakistan for any and every incident in Afghanistan without sharing any evidence ever,” the ambassador said.

“Scapegoating Pakistan to deflect attention from the security lapses in Afghanistan is not helpful,” he said.

Chaudhry said Kabul attack was a barbaric act of terrorism which Pakistan condemn in the strongest terms. “Our hearts go out to the affected families. Some of our own embassy officers were injured.”

The attack, he said, was a grim reminder that all nations must join hands to isolate and eliminate the menace of terrorism. Pakistan wants to see peace in Afghanistan. We have suffered enormously from the instability in Afghanistan. In the last few years Pakistan has reversed the tide of terrorism in our own country.

However, in order to consolidate our gains in security and economic domains, it is imperative to have peace in Afghanistan.

“What is needed is for the Afghan and Pakistan governments to work together to defeat terrorism which is our common enemy,” he said.