UNITED NATIONS: Afghanistan has called on Pakistan to halt cross-border shelling, warning the UN Security Council that the attacks could jeopardise already tense relations between the two countries.
A UN envoy meanwhile said that there were a growing number of “uprisings” against the Taliban in areas of Afghanistan under the Islamist group’s control.
Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul said Thursday that attacks from Pakistan into his country were “a matter of deep and serious concern” and had caused “unprecedented anger and frustration among Afghans.”
Afghanistan has accused Pakistan of staging repeated shelling barrages across the poorly policed border into Kunar province.
“We reiterate our call for an immediate end to these acts, which have taken the lives of dozen of Afghans, mainly civilians, while leaving many wounded,” Rassoul told the 15-nation council during a meeting.
He said the Afghan government was in contact with Pakistan to end the attacks “holistically and resolutely.”
Rassoul said that Afghanistan wants “close and fruitful relations” with its neighbor, which has frequently been accused of backing Taliban militants seeking to overthrow President Hamid Karzai’s government.
Pakistan in turn says groups of Pakistani Taliban sheltering in Afghanistan have infiltrated the border to resume attacks on its security forces.
The UN special representative in Afghanistan Jan Kubis meanwhile told the meeting that “reports of uprisings against the Taliban in various parts of the country are a new development requiring greater analysis.” He added, however, that the causes of the new violence are “complex.”
“Desire for local communities to have security and justice led them to taking the situation into their own hands. There is a risk of even greater fragmentation of the security environment,” Kubis said.
AFP
