Afghan President blames Pakistan for cross-border militant activities

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has resorted to blame-game against Pakistan saying yesterday that the keys to war are in Islamabad, Quetta, Rawalpindi. He accused the neighbouring country of being the safe-haven for cross-border militant activities.

He also claimed that key to peace was in Afghanistan.
Ghani made the remarks as US peace negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad visited Kabul for consultations on his progress in talks with the Taliban.
In 2017, Pakistan began building a fence on its disputed 2,500 km border with Afghanistan to prevent incursions by militants.
Ghani also questioned the religious legitimacy of the Taliban, who had repeatedly refused to hold direct peace talks with the Afghan government.
“If the Afghan government is illegitimate, so where does the Taliban get their legitimacy from?” he said. “Islamic scholars in Makkah and Indonesia said that suicide attacks and killing of civilians do not have legitimacy… so where is the source of Taliban’s legitimacy?” he asked.
Direct talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban collapsed in 2015, and the Taliban, fighting to drive out international forces and re-establish their version of strict Islamic law, have said they plan to continue negotiating with the US officials on Feb 25.