Kabul calls for UN action against Islamabad

By Arul Louis

United Nations, Jan 11 (IANS) A day after an international meeting in Islamabad to pave way for peace talks between Kabul and the Taliban, Afghanistan launched a stinging attack on Pakistan for aiding terrorist groups and asked the Security Council to take action on governments promoting extremist violence.

The Security Council could devise a method to identify "elements in some 'State institutions' (that) facilitate violence and extremist activities by non-state proxies as a means to advance their foreign policy agenda," Afghanistan's Permanent Representative Mahmoud Saikal said Tuesday.

Speaking at the Council debate on Conflict Prevention and Sustaining Peace, he did not mention Pakistan, but it was clear that he was referring to Islamabad's activities in the region.

"The cycle of violence and insecurity in Afghanistan, and our part of the world is inextricably linked to the presence of sanctuaries and safe-havens in the region, from which extremist groups are sustained and enjoy an incessant flow of political, financial, material and logistical support for the continuation of their malicious activities," he said.

On an issue with bearing on the meeting in Islamabad on Monday by Afghanistan, China, Pakistan and the US to facilitate peace talks between Kabul and the Taliban, Saikal declared that interactions with "armed groups" active in his country should have Kabul's approval.

He said, "Any kind of talks on the situation in my country has neither any value nor legitimacy without the participation and approval of our government which is the most democratically elected administration in the history of our nation."

Without naming Islamabad, he added, "We have expressed strong reservations in regards to open declarations by some in our region of their contacts with armed opposition groups active in Afghanistan, conducted without the consent of the Afghan government."

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in)