ISI chief tells Kabul: Stop blame game, it’s not in interest of anyone

TASHKENT: Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General Lt Gen Faiz Hameed Friday said Afghanistan should stop blame-game as it was not beneficial for the two countries.

He said proof of Afghanistan’s intrusion into Pakistan were handed over to the Afghan authorities in the presence of Prime Minister Imran Khan and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. Lt-Gen Faiz Hameed was part of the delegation which attended the South and Central Asia Connectivity, Challenges and Opportunity conference, hosted by Uzbekistan.

After talks between PM Imran Khan and President Ashraf Ghani at the conference hall, the ISI chief told this correspondent that Pakistani security forces were being attacked at Pak-Afghan border, resulting in martyrdom of Pak armed forces forces personnel. In such a situation, blaming Pakistan for intrusion into Afghanistan was totally wrong.

The world recognised Pakistan’s sacrifices for maintaining peace in Afghanistan. “We lost 70,000 precious lives in the war against terrorism, besides losing billions of dollars in infrastructure destruction. We stand for peaceful and stable Afghanistan and will continue efforts to establish peace there,” he added.

He said that the Afghan peace conference, scheduled to be held in Islamabad on 17-19 July 2021 had been postponed, and not cancelled due to pressing engagements and Asia and Central Asia Connectivity conference. It will be rescheduled shortly, he said.