AMRITSAR (SW): President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani snubbed Pakistan at the Heart of Asia Istanbul Process (HAIP) Conference in India for providing sanctuaries to the militants for waging terror in Afghanistan.
Ghani praised India for helping with “no strings attached” at the inaugural session of the sixth Heart of Asia conference that began in Amritsar on Sunday. Ghani and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had held bilateral talks ahead of the start of the conference, discussing a range of issues including trade and investment, defence and infrastructure.
They also spoke of firming up an air cargo service pact between the countries, which will give India leverage in Afghanistan as Pakistan continues to deny transit link through its territory. According to Hindustan Times, Modi assured Ghani of India’s continued support for ensuring peace and stability in Afghanistan.
"We need to identify cross-border terrorism and a fund to combat terrorism. Pakistan has pledged $500m for Afghanistan's development. This amount can be spent to contain extremism," Ghani said, directly addressing Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz who was in attendance at the two-day moot. "Afghanistan suffered the highest number of casualties last year. This is unacceptable… Some still provide sanctuary for terrorists. As a Taliban figure said recently, if they had no sanctuary in Pakistan, they wouldn't last a month," Dawn news quoted the Afghan president saying.
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About 30 terrorist groups, as named by the UN, are trying to establish a base in Afghanistan. If terrorists didn’t have sanctuary in Pakistan, they would not last a month, President Ghani said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his opening remarks termed terrorism "the biggest threat to Afghanistan's peace and the region," Indian media reported. Addressing the moot, Modi said, "We must counter terrorists and their masters. We must demonstrate strong collective will to defeat terror network that cause bloodshed and spread fear."
"India-Afghanistan-Iran cooperation on the Chahbahar port will help Afghanistan to connect its economy to the rest of the world," Modi said.
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