Afghanistan rejects Pakistan’s terror dossier

Afghanistan has joined India in dismissing Pakistan’s so-called dossier on external forces sponsoring terrorism, with Kabul saying Islamabad should allow a UN-appointed delegation to verify the claims.The Afghan foreign ministry said Pakistan should raise such issues through existing mechanisms such as the Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity (APAPPS).India had rubbished Pakistan’s dossier on Indian sponsorship of terrorism on Sunday, saying it was a propaganda exercise that will find few takers as the world community is aware of Islamabad’s role in supporting terror. Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and chief military spokesman Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar had released the dossier on Saturday along with they said were intelligence intercepts that purportedly showed the involvement of Indian intelligence operatives in acts of terrorism. They also claimed Afghan territory was being used for terror attacks against Pakistan.

The Afghan foreign ministry said it “strongly rejects the allegations of the spokesman of the Pakistani Army claiming the use of Afghan territory against that country”.Afghanistan, as a major victim of terrorism, is committed to a “policy of combating all forms of terrorism, without discrimination, around the world and will never allow Afghan territory to be used for destructive activities against other countries”, the ministry said. The Afghan foreign ministry also said “there is absolutely no evidence that Malik (Feraydoon Khan) Mohmand, one of the tribal leaders of Nangarhar province, was involved in the terrorist attacks on the Peshawar Agricultural University”.

The Afghan foreign ministry also took a tacit swipe at Pakistan over the issue of terrorists operating from Pakistani soil. It said the government and people of Afghanistan, as “the greatest victims of terrorism, will continue to coordinate global efforts to jointly fight terrorism, its sources of finance and equipment, their safe havens in the region”.