Afghan Senates Announce Support for Ghani’s Anti-Pakistan Remarks

President Ashraf Ghani in his interviews with Indian media outlets has said that the undeclared war of Pakistan is intensifying day by day.

“The undeclared war is intensifying and almost taking the shape of a declared war. This will have serious regional and global consequences,” said President Ashraf Ghani.

The Upper House of the Parliament- Meshrano Jirga has announced support for President Ghani’s recent remarks against Pakistan.

Afghanistan Senate House says that Pakistan is already in a declared war against Afghanistan and President Ghani’s position should be supported.

“We support President’s recent remarks against Pakistan and Pakistani officials should change their policy instead of expressing concerns,” said Fazlullhadi Muslimyar, chairman of the Senate House.

Meanwhile, a number of other parliament members said that Pakistan has already announced this war and now their military forces are fighting against Afghan troops in the battlefields.

“Absolutely, we are in a declared war against Pakistan and the presence of Pakistani generals and Pakistani corpses in the battlefields can make this claim acceptable,” said Gul Pacha Majidi, representative of Paktia.

Ghani’s comments come as the relationship between the two neighbouring countries deteriorates as always.

In August 2015, after a weekend string of bombings that killed 50 and injured hundreds in Kabul, Ghani said, “Pakistan still remains a venue and ground for gatherings from which mercenaries send us messages of war.”

In that address, Ghani also put on display his frustration with the Pakistan-mediated peace process: “We don’t want Pakistan to bring the Taliban to peace talks, but to stop the Taliban’s activities on their soil.”

In April 2016, after a Taliban attack on a government intelligence building resulted in 64 deaths and 347 injuries, Ghani said it again.

He commented in a speech to a joint session of parliament broadcast on television that militant groups that carry out attacks in Afghanistan “are being hosted and aided from the territory of Pakistan.” I noted at the time, and would stress again, that this shift in language is not new or, to be frank, all that shocking.

From the Afghan perspective, Pakistan has not done enough to deal with militant groups that find sanctuary within its borders–and at the extreme has actively supported groups staging attacks in Afghanistan.

From the Pakistani perspective, Islamabad is doing as much as it can–perhaps fearing that an all-out ousting of such groups would merely preface their shift in focus to Pakistan.

It’s a conundrum that will continue to cause rifts between the two countries and ultimately prevent meaningful progress in the peace process.