The Foreign Office said on Monday that criminals, the drug mafia and warlords were responsible for the current problems of Afghanistan and Afghan President Hamid Karzai should set his own house in order instead of blaming Pakistan.
Speaking at a weekly press briefing here, FO spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said the source of Afghanistan’s problems lay in that country and the sooner the Afghan authorities realised this fact, the better. Rejecting Karzai’s statement that Pakistan should change its Afghan policy, Aslam said Pakistan had nothing to do with Afghan problems because “the source of their problems lies in that country”. However, she said Pakistan was improving border control to curb illegal movements to and from Afghanistan. She said that the new border regime would not affect the movement of people having genuine documents.
Aslam reiterated that Pakistan would not allow anyone to conduct operation on its land because its forces were strong and capable of doing so single-handedly. To a question about a joint operation of Pakistan Army and US forces against foreign militants, she said, “I have said several times that no such operation will be conducted within Pakistan.”
She said Pakistan was fighting the war on terrorism in its own interest and the world should acknowledge its contribution and avoid making allegations that only divert attention from the real issues. She said others should also trust Pakistan as it had trusted them, otherwise it would be difficult to win the war against terrorism.