Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Pakistan, Facing Accusations From Afghanistan, As Well As The U.S., Calls For The "Blame Game" To Stop

From Jihad Watch:


Pakistan, facing accusations from Afghanistan as well as the U.S., calls for the "blame game" to stop







Echoes of the discourse here in the U.S.: treating people calling attention to the jihadists and their enablers as a bigger problem than the jihadists themselves. "Pakistan says stop "blame game" at U.S., Afghan talks," Hamid Shalizi and Michael Holden for the Associated Press, June 28:



KABUL (Reuters) - Pakistan called on Tuesday for the "blame game" to stop as the United States, Afghanistan and Pakistan met to discuss security in the region amid a Taliban insurgency and heightened tensions over cross border shelling.



Afghan President Hamid Karzai has condemned the firing of 470 rockets from Pakistan into his country over the past three weeks. Islamabad says only that "a few accidental rounds" may have crossed the border when it pursued militants who had attacked its security forces.



The escalation of fighting on the border between Pakistan's ethnic Pashtun tribal areas and Afghanistan has underscored the difficulties the three countries face in working together to reach a political settlement to the 10-year Afghan war.



"We need to end this blame-game," Salman Bashir, Pakistan's Foreign Secretary, told a news conference after a meeting of three countries in Kabul, without making any specific reference to border shelling.



"We need to take ownership for our own affairs. This problem will not go away if we keep on pointing fingers at each other, we have done it for too long."



Afghanistan has often blamed elements within the Pakistan government for supporting the Taliban insurgency.



Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of what it has done for years: giving jihadists a cross-border refuge:



Pakistan blames Afghanistan for giving refuge to militants on its side of the border, particularly in eastern Kunar province, leaving it vulnerable to counter-attack when it chases them out of its own tribal areas.



In an interview with BBC radio aired on Tuesday, Karl Eikenberry, the U.S. ambassador to Kabul, criticized Islamabad's efforts to deal with militants, saying it dealt well only with those who were a direct threat to Pakistan....



Posted by Marisol on June 29, 2011 12:06 AM

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