Spokesperson says killing of Chinese citizens under tight security cover shows weakness of Pakistani security agencies
\nkabul
\nThe Taliban defence ministry on Wednesday rejected Pakistan\u2019s claim that Afghans were involved in an attack on Chinese engineers, as ties between the neighbouring nations sour amidst rising insecurity.
\nDG Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Ahmed Sharif had said at a press conference on Tuesday that a suicide bomb attack in March in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa\u2019s Besham, that killed five Chinese engineers, was planned in neighbouring Afghanistan, and that the bomber was an Afghan national.
\nHe said that despite repeated demands and sharing of evidence, the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) continued to operate from Afghanistan. \u201cPakistan shared credible evidence, but no action was taken. The linkage of the recent terrorist incidents can be found in Afghanistan.\u201d
\n\u201cPakistan has helped the Afghan interim government at all levels, but the promises they made in Doha do not seem to be fulfilled. The agreement clearly states that Afghanistan\u2019s territory will not be used against any country, but there is strong evidence that this is happening. In this regard, the Foreign Office recorded repeated protests with the Taliban government.\u201d
\nHe said those who carried out the terrorist attack against the Chinese engineers came from Afghanistan. \u201cThe terrorists and their facilitators were being controlled from Afghanistan while the suicide bomber was also an Afghan citizen.\u201d
\n\u201cAfghans are not involved in such matters,\u201d said Mufti Enayatullah Khorazmim, the spokesperson for Afghanistan\u2019s Taliban-run Ministry of National Defence, in a statement.
\n\u201cBlaming Afghanistan for such incidents is a failed attempt to divert attention from the truth of the matter and we strongly reject it,\u201d he added.
\n\u201cThe killing of Chinese citizens in an area of \u200b\u200bKhyber-Pakhtunkhwa that is under tight security cover by the Pakistan Army shows the weakness of the Pakistani security agencies,\u201d Khorazmim said.
\nHe accused Islamabad of diverting attention by blaming Kabul and said: \u201cWe strongly reject it.\u201d \u201cThe Islamic Emirate (Taliban) has assured China on this matter and the country has also understood the fact that Afghans are not involved in such issues,\u201d he said.
\nA suicide bomber rammed a vehicle into a convoy of Chinese engineers working on a dam project in Besham in March, killing six people.
\nRelations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have soured in recent months. Islamabad says Kabul is not doing enough to tackle terrorist groups targeting Pakistan and in March Pakistan carried out airstrikes targeting militants on Afghan territory.
\nLast year, Pakistan expelled nearly 370,000 undocumented Afghan nationals, saying the majority of suicide attacks against its security forces were carried out by Afghans, a charge Kabul rejected.
\nThe military spokesman said on Tuesday that security for 29,000 Chinese nationals in Pakistan, many of them working on infrastructure projects, was the top priority for security institutions.
\nThe Taliban are also seeking economic ties with China, the first country to formally appoint an ambassador to Kabul under the Taliban, and wish to join China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which is Beijing\u2019s $65 billion investment in development and infrastructure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Spokesperson says killing of Chinese citizens under tight security cover shows weakness of Pakistani security agencies kabul The Taliban defence ministry on Wednesday rejected Pakistan\u2019s claim that Afghans were involved in an attack on Chinese engineers, as ties between the neighbouring nations sour amidst rising insecurity. DG Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Ahmed Sharif […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":405694,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-405663","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n