Afghanistan is under direct invasion by Pakistan, Former Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta has said and rubbished Islamabad's claim that India was indulging in a "proxy war" with it in the country.
Asserting that Pakistan "provokes the Taliban against our people" and "organised, systematically and target-based attacks," Spanta said, "The Afghan intelligence agency and other covert national agencies have access to telephone conversations of Haqqanis and the Taliban with Pakistani officials where Haqqanis are ordered by Pakistan that how to conduct terror attacks and whom they should kill."
"In a number of cases they have been told that if they are not able to kill any figure alone, they should seek the help of Lashkar-e-Taiba," Spanta, who is also the former National Security Advisor of Afghanistan, said.
Rubbishing Pakistan's allegations against India, he noted various India-assisted developmental projects including construction of Salma Dam and Parliament House as also restoration of the monuments and said it was beyond understanding how these projects could threaten Pakistan's security.
Terming as "totally baseless" Pakistan's claim that India has 14 consulates in Afghanistan, he, in an article in Afghanistan Times, wrote there were only four such missions like Pakistan and Iran.
Pakistan was eyeing to compel Kabul on scaling back its relations with New Delhi, Spanta wrote.
"Now, if ISI's henchmen inside Afghanistan want the Afghan government to reject the consulates, it is up to them, but the freedom fighters of this country will never give this right to Pakistan to take control of Afghanistan's foreign policy and press Kabul to tell India to cease its consulates in the country," he said.
However, Spanta said he has never been happy about India's "debility in its foreign policy and security" while citing an example when then Hamid Karzai-led Afghan government had submitted the "wish list" to the Indian officials and the response came after the end of their tenure.
"We submitted our wish list to India and we received response after the end of our tenure. I revealed the facts here to tell Afghans that there is no 'proxy war' in Afghanistan. Neither India nor any other country was ready or is ready to accept danger for security in our country. And this is a good thing. We should learn that how to use the possible cooperation for defending the country.
"Our people should know that the country is under direct invasion by Pakistan. What does this country say is just excuses. Our people should know that the US, our main ally against Pakistan, is pursuing a soft policy against this country," he said.
