Taliban’s Foreign Minister disapproved Hamid Karzai’s statement by saying “Nothing insulting about PM Imran’s remarks on Afghanistan”.
Afghanistan’s acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi disapproved on Monday former president Hamid Karzai’s statement wherein the latter rebuked Prime Minister Imran Khan for attributing the prevalent situation in the war-torn country to years of “corruption” by previous governments.
Prime Minister Imran made the remarks while addressing the 17th extraordinary session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s Council (OIC) of Foreign Ministers in Islamabad on Sunday, where he also said that Pakistan faced the threat of the militant Islamic State (IS) group from Afghan soil.
Reacting to the premier’s remarks, Karzai described the statements as “an attempt to sow discord among Afghans, and an insult to the Afghan people”. In a statement on his Twitter, he said the Pakistan government should “strictly refrain from propagating against Afghanistan and interfering in our internal affairs”.
“Pakistan should avoid speaking on behalf of Afghanistan [on] international forums. It should work towards creating positive and civilised relations between the two countries,” Karzai wrote.
Responding to the premier’s remarks on an IS threat originating from Afghanistan, the former president said the “allegation” that IS was active in the country and posed a threat to neighbouring Pakistan “is [a] clear propaganda as the reality has been the opposite”.
“The threat of ISIS has been directed from Pakistan against Afghanistan from the very onset,” he added.
On Monday, Foreign Minister Muttaqi disapproved of Karzai’s statement.
Upon returning to Kabul from Islamabad, where he had also addressed the OIC’s session on Afghanistan, Muttaqi told reporters he did not find anything “insulting” about Prime Minister Imran’s remarks.
“I do not see anything insulting about Imran Khan’s remarks that needs an official response. It was a positive conference and there are positive outcomes so we should not take it negatively,” Muttaqi said. “What’s of significance is that Imran Khan slammed former Afghan governments and I believe that officials from the past governments were compelled to show some reaction,” the foreign minister said. He added that different views and opinions were shared at the meeting and that every person was responsible for what they said.
“[And more] importantly, all participants at the conference spoke in favour of Afghanistan.” Muttaqi’s remarks were posted on the official Facebook page of Afghanistan’s state media.
