Pak NSA agrees with Karzai on US backing of Daesh

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s National Security Adviser Lt-Gen (retd) Naseer Janjua on Monday said he agreed with former Afghan president Hamid Karzai that the United States (US) was supporting terrorist organisation, Daesh, in Afghanistan.

The former Afghan leader has claimed in his recent statement that US Air Force was supplying weapons to militants of Islamic State also known as Daesh. “Yes I do agree with Hamid Karzai on his Daesh statement. I think he is right,” Janjua told The News at a reception hosted by the Chinese Embassy in the honour of outgoing Ambassador Sun Weidong.

Gen Janjua was of the view that Pakistan should take up the Afghan issue during the upcoming visit of US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to Islamabad. “I think the issue of Afghanistan and China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) should be discussed with the visiting US secretary of state,” he said.

The National Security Adviser was of the view that ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan were moving forward after the recent visit to Kabul by Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa. However, he maintained that long-term presence of US forces in Afghanistan will continue to create troubles for both countries. In April this year, Karzai had called Daesh a tool of the United States. In his fresh interview with ‘Russia Today’, the former president said Daesh has emerged in Afghanistan in the past three to four years under the watch of US military and its intelligence agencies. “I get daily reports by the Afghan people that unmarked military helicopters supply Daesh in many parts of Afghanistan,” he claimed.

The former president said the US needs to become a cooperative partner in the region, including with China, Russia, Pakistan and India to bring peace.

Responding to a question about the recent comments by US Defense Secretary James Mattis on CPEC passing through a disputed territory, Gen Naseer Janjua said the Kashmir dispute must be resolved. “In this statement the United States has acknowledged that Kashmir is a disputed territory so we expect US to play its role in resolving the Kashmir dispute,” he said. He said CPEC was a project which would hugely benefit Pakistan and enemies of the country are not happy about it.