Business Standard

Afghans not cooperating in our ops against militants: Pak Army

Image

Press Trust of India Peshawar
Pakistan today slammed Kabul for not cooperating in the country's on-going military offensive against the Taliban militants in the country's porous northwestern tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

"We did not get cooperation from Afghanistan that we were expecting before launching the Zarb-e-Azab operation," Director General, Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), Major General Asim Saleem Bajwa told reporters here.

The Zarb-e-Azab operation was launched by Pakistani Army in mid-June to flush out militants from the tribal dominated North Waziristan Agency (NWA) and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

Bajwa's comments came even as the Pakistani Army today declared that more than 1,100 terrorists were killed in Zarb-i-Azb operation while another 44 were killed in Khyber-I offensive unleashed against rebels in Khyber tribal district.
 

Operation Khyber-I was launched earlier this month to contain the activities of the fleeing terrorists in NWA and to stop their spell over to the neighbouring Khyber Agency where their regrouping was possible.

Lamenting Afghanistan's failure to cooperate in the operation, Bajwa said that Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Maulana Fazlullah was "operating freely" from across the border.

"We had asked them to dislodge the terrorists, intercept them, kill them or hand over to us, but they (Afghans) were not forthcoming in this cooperation," he added.

Asked about roaming Afghan SIMs on border area, he said, the same has been communicated to the Afghan government, adding, unless this matter was solved the problem would continue to pose threats of terrorism.

Relations between the two neighbours are at a rock-bottom with both sides accusing each other of abetting violence and providing safe havens to militants operating in their countries.

Don't miss the most important news and views of the day. Get them on our Telegram channel

First Published: Oct 29 2014 | 8:00 PM IST

Explore News