KABUL (SW): Members of the Wolesi Jirga (lower house) has criticized the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) with the U.S. over Washington’s alleged failure in helping secure Afghanistan’s territorial integrity in the wake of unprovoked shelling from Pakistan.
The members also urged upon the Afghan government to disclose if there are any ‘secret deals’ with Pakistan, or publically respond against the shelling by Pakistani forces on a number of districts in Kunar.
First deputy speaker of the house Humayoun Humayoun, who was chairing the session, called upon the members to unite and take a serious stance against cross-border shelling from Pakistan. He said if the U.S. is unable to secure the territorial integrity of Afghanistan with the BSA, this agreement should be reviewed by the house, and scrapped altogether if deemed ineffective.
“If the U.S. and Nato are unable to bring peace in Afghanistan, this agreement shall be scraped instead of having the security pact while a strange neighbor keeps firing thousands of rockets on our soil, and no one taking action against it”, he said.
In the meantime, Gen. Dawlat Waziri, spokesman for the Ministry of Defense (MoD), told a press conference that Afghanistan has lodged a diplomatic protest with Pakistan, and has shared evidence, but Pakistan is not accepting responsibility for the shelling. “One way (to deal with) is to declare a war with Pakistan, but you know that it is not in favor of Afghanistan. Afghanistan is trying via diplomatic and political means to convince Pakistan to stop shelling rockets”, he said.
More than a thousand rockets have been fired on the mountainous districts of Kunar from Pakistan in the past few days that has spread fear, and has displaced hundreds of families.
ENDS
