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Afghanistan to airlift citizens if border is not reopened within two days: Ambassador
[DAWN] Afghan Ambassador Omar Zakhilwal on Saturday said Pakistain does not have a justification for the continued closure of crossing points on the Pak-Afghan border, and that his country might send in chartered flights to airlift stranded Afghans in case the border is not reopened soon.In a message posted to his Facebook page, Zakhilwal said he had talked with Pakistain's de facto foreign minister, Sartaj PrunefaceAziz  ...Adviser to Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on National Security and Foreign Affairs, who believes in goodjihadis and badjihadis as a matter of national policy... , to convey that if an opening was not allowed for the return of stranded Afghans within two days, he would ask his government to send chartered flights to lift them. "This, however, would reflect very poorly [for Pakistain]," he added. Zakhilwal said the argument presented by Pakistain -- that the border closure is intended to stop Death Eaters from crossing over -- does not carry any weight, as "these points such as Torkham and Spin Boldak have been manned by hundreds of military and other security personnel" and have all the necessary equipment and infrastructure in place to prevent such a possibility. "Continuous unreasonable closure of legal Pak-Afghan trade and transit routes cannot have any other explanation except to be aimed at hurting the common Afghan people," the envoy said in his social media post, apparently in breach of diplomatic protocol. Posted by: Fred 2017-03-05 |
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