Islamabad, May 13 (IANS) Pakistans ambassador to the US Jalil Abbas Jilani has, responding to the New York Times editorial, said that Pakistan cannot be held responsible for the mess in Afghanistan. He termed it the result of the collective failure of the international community, it was reported on Friday.
In a letter to the newspaper, the ambassador said, "Allegations of duplicity and double game are extremely painful, especially when Pakistan has suffered the most due to war in Afghanistan. Hundreds of suicide bombings and tens of thousands of civilian casualties are the direct result of the US-led war in Afghanistan after 9/11."
"Instead of complaining the heavy cost imposed on us due to sustained external intervention in our neighbourhood, Pakistan has consistently cooperated with the US and coalition forces in sharing intelligence and decimating the terror outfits operating from the region," Jilani said.
"Since 2009, Pakistani forces have been engaged in incremental operations to clear the Pakistani soil from all the terrorist networks concentrated in this area because of the competing interests and mutual rivalries of the big powers, he said.
It was Pakistan's military which "fractured the back of Taliban" through indiscriminate counter-terrorism operations, the envoy added.
His letter read: "Instead of putting the entire blame on Pakistan, it would have been better had the editorial also commented on the protracted Afghan refugee issue and lack of border management among the underlying reasons for regional instability. Omitting such fundamental questions, that impede a long-term solution to the Afghan problem, smack partisanship on part of the New York Times."
Jilani emphasised that Pakistan does not benefit from instability in Afghanistan and was determined to restore peace and prosperity in the neighbouring country.
The Pakistan envoy went on to say that the country played a completely neutral role in the Afghan elections and offered every possible assistance to the Afghan government to find a political solution in the country.
The ongoing process involving the US and China besides Pakistan and Afghanistan has rightly agreed that the long-term peace in Afghanistan can only be achieved through reconciliation between the various Afghan stake holders. It is imperative that this peace initiative be given a chance to succeed what the war has failed to achieve in the last fifteen years, he added.
