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Security adviser warns of Afghanistan becoming safe haven for terrorists
Afghanistan again is facing serious threat of becoming a safe haven for terrorists, National Security Adviser said.
Hanif Atmar in an interview with a foreign press voiced his concern over presence of the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda groups in Afghanistan and called on US and NATO for help.
“The militants have not been degraded, they have regenerated themselves,” Atmar told to Associate Press.
Atmar warned the insurgent groups are reinventing themselves, joining forces, and drawing funds and support from outside as they take advantage of a perceived weakness of Afghan forces following the end of the U.S.-led international combat mission last year.
Security adviser said several groups are now using Afghanistan as a staging ground to reach their “home countries,” including China, Uzbekistan and other Central Asian states, and Russia.
“What needs to be well understood is that the symbiotic network of terrorists that we are confronted with is going to be a threat to every country in this region and by extension the whole world,” Atmar said.
“We are hoping that assessment is shared not just by Central Asia, Russia and China, but by our neighbors to the south and east,” he said, referring principally to Pakistan.
He said the Islamic State group now poses an “existential threat” because it no longer includes only disaffected Taliban, unhappy with the lack of progress after years of fighting to topple the Kabul government, but has an “institutional connection” to the group’s leadership in Iraq and Syria.
“What these groups need to survive and to grow is sanctuaries, whether in Pakistan or Afghanistan. They’ve had them in Pakistan for decades now,” Atmar noted.
“Unless we get rid of the Taliban, either through counter-terrorism or through peace and reconciliation, these elements will grow because they need a host, and they need a recruitment facility. And we should not allow the Afghan Taliban to grow into that kind of facility for them,” he said.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan Senate House criticized national security adviser of not informing the National Assembly; citing he should be summoned to the Senate.
“I wonder why our authorities do not share these statements with the representatives of our people,” Senator Nesar Haris said.
“The national security adviser has seriously warned of Afghanistan becoming a safe haven for terrorists, he must be summoned to the Senate for clarifications,” Senator Layloma Ahmadi said.
However, Afghan analysts say that Afghanistan would not become a safe haven for terrorist groups unless the politicians want to.
“Afghan people would never allow any terrorist groups to make the country a safe haven unless the politicians want to,” Aziz Rafi, civil activist said.
The 2015 fighting season between the Taliban and Afghan security forces is turning out to be the bloodiest on record since 2001.
Insecurity has significantly increased throughout the country, civilian deaths have shot up, and the Afghan security forces are taking large, and potentially unsustainable, casualties.
The Afghan forces also suffer from financial problems and deficiencies in logistics, intelligence resources, and special support functions, including medical evacuation. The lack of Afghan close-air-support assets is particularly problematic and a great boost to the insurgency.
Although Afghanistan passed through a critical juncture in the fall of 2014, when after an election, power was peacefully handed over to a new government, the country continues to face a series of political tripwires.
Pakistan’s military spokesperson Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry claimed on Tuesday that there is “irrefutable evidence” of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) using Afghanistan against the country.
“There is irrefutable evidence of Afghan soil being used by the TTP […] recent terrorist incidents can be traced back to Afghanistan,” Sharif said while addressing a press conference.
Reaffirming the commitment on counter-terrorism efforts, Chaudhry said that Pakistan will leave no stone unturned to eliminate the terrorist network.
He stressed that the security forces would go to any extent possible against terrorists. However, the spokesperson noted that the first priority of the Pakistan Army was to maintain law and order in the country.
“The army chief has said that there’s no place for terrorists in Pakistan,” the spokesperson said while reassuring that steps are being taken to bring the miscreants to justice.
On the issue of Afghan refugees living inside Pakistan, he said: “Millions of Afghans are still living in Pakistan, while the country is fighting against terrorism. Pakistan has helped Afghan refugees, which the world has recognised.”
Highlighting that millions of Afghan citizens continue to reside in Pakistan, he revealed that more than 563,000 Afghans have been repatriated.
He said the law and order situation was deteriorating because of the Afghan citizens.
“Militants are spoiling the law and order situation in Balochistan, but the army is [acting as] a wall against the miscreants,” he noted.
The Islamic Emirate has previously denied the presence of TTP in Afghanistan and said that Pakistan’s security problem has nothing to do with Afghanistan.
The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada said on the last day of a three-day seminar on the coordination and regulation of specialist and religious universities in Kandahar that after the establishment of the Islamic Emirate, all the opponents were forgiven and they now live together like brothers.
Speaking at the seminar Monday, Akhundzada added that he is satisfied with the performance of his acting ministers as they always obey him.
“I am happy with my ministers and they are good people and always obey me. Obey, value and honor them because honor and obedience are not exclusive to the Amir [leader], but include all the commanders,” Akhundzada said.
He also said that the world wants to separate politics from religion, so that even in Islamic countries, scholars do not have a role in politics; but according to him in Afghanistan, scholars should have access to politics.
He asked scholars to follow the orders of the Islamic Emirate to encourage the nation to implement and obey the orders.
Ziaullah Hashimi, the spokesman of the Ministry of Higher Education, says that the three-day seminar brought together department heads, deputies and professors of the General Directorate of Specialist and Religious Universities of the Ministry of Higher Education.
The seminar started on Saturday and ended Monday.
Kazakhstan Trade House in Afghanistan has officially opened in Herat province with the aim of increasing the volume of trade exchanges between the two countries.
Acting Minister of Industry and Commerce Noorudin Azizi called the opening of the Kazakhstan Trade House in Afghanistan a “positive and effective step” in strengthening and expanding trade relations between the two countries.
He stated that as a result of the trip of an Afghan delegation to Kazakhstan, Afghanistan’s exports to Kazakhstan have increased.
Meanwhile, Arman Yusintayev, head of the Kazakhstan Trade House in Afghanistan, highlighted that the aim of opening a trade house in Afghanistan is to increase the volume of trade exchanges between the two countries, adding Kazakhstan is interested in expanding trade relations with Afghanistan.
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