WASHINGTON - The U.S department of state has said that instability in Afghanistan has direct repercussions on Pakistan, reiterating calls on Islamabad to hit all terrorist groups on Pakistani soil that continue to wage war against Afghanistan.
The U.S has said that terrorism not only impacts the region, but also affects the peace and security of Pakistan.
The statement comes at a juncture where Afghan officials have been urging Pakistan to hit all insurgent groups on its soil including the Afghan Taliban and its offshoot the Haqqani network.
But Pakistan insists that it is hitting all terrorists regardless of their background and political affiliation, rejecting the Afghan officials claims as baseless and far from the truth.
Pakistani government claimed that as part of its counter-terrorism policy, it has launched the so-called 'Zarb-e-Azb' operation at curbing the terrorist groups that allegedly continue missions in Pakistan.
Back in July, the Obama administration mounted fresh pressure on Pakistan to push Islamabad to act against all insurgent groups in that country including Taliban's brutal outfit, the Haqqani terrorist network which is blamed for plotting suicide attacks on Afghanistan.
"In terms of our conversation with them very clear with the highest levels of the Pakistani government that Pakistan must target all groups, I note that general Sharif had actually spoke on this very recently, now Pakistan and broader region stability requires that the military threats be addressed in a comprehensive way, instability in Afghanistan is not in Pakistan's interest and will undermine the significant progress the Pakistani military has made in shedding down terrorists' safe havens," U.S official Elizabeth Kennedy said.
With an unprecedented influx of militants from Pakistan on Afghanistan's eastern and northeastern regions, Afghan officials once again hit back at Pakistan's count-terrorism policy, saying Pakistan instead of eliminating the terrorists is nourishing them to destabilize Afghanistan.
Afghan envoy to Islamabad Hazarat Omar Zakhelwal in an interview with Pakistani media revealed that there was huge mistrust between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"You see Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed and there was a Pakistani passport in his pocket, he travelled abroad twenty times from Karachi airport, where was Mansour killed and where was Mullah Hibatullah appointed. It appears that the Zarb-e-Azb operation eliminated only those who were threatening the stability of Pakistan and Afghan Taliban were never targeted, Haqqani network also not harmed. There is a gap in words and action," said Zakhelwal.
Meanwhile, a number of analysts have said that mistrust of Pakistan on international levels has increased and that Pakistani will no longer be able to deceive the world by pursuing its deceptive polices on terrorism.
"It appears that there is a fresh wave of pressure on Pakistan in the international level and these pressures are mounted each day, Pakistan as a main ally to US is now under mounting pressure by Washington which makes it difficult for Pakistan to deal with US, China and Russia in a single period and continue its policies in the region," said political analyst Hussain Ramoz.(Tolonews)