Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri, on Tuesday called on Pakistan to prevent terrorists from coming in to Afghanistan and urged Pakistan to stop supporting terrorists.
At a media briefing on defense ministry issues Waziri said terrorist group leaders are based in Pakistan and some had even been killed in Pakistan.
Four big terrorist groups are active in Afghanistan – all of which are all located in Pakistan, Waziri said.
“First is an international (group) which are Al-Qaeda and Daesh, second is regional, like Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, and Chechen (movements), and third are those groups that belong to Pakistan like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and fourth are our own armed oppositions like Taliban and Haqqani network,” Waziri said.
“Friendship with Pakistan is in our interest but if Pakistan accepts,” Waziri added.
Meanwhile, the MoD officials also discussed corruption and their efforts to fight the phenomenon in the security agency.
“Corruption cannot vanish from the Ministry of Defense on one day or by one order. We want to overcome corruption. For instance, we have started from the and finally we will bring it to zero,” Waziri stated.
At least 1,400 personnel are under investigation in the ministry and at least 2,000 others have had positions changed or suspended on charges of corruption in the past six months in the Defense Ministry, the officials said.
“At least 1,107 officials of the ministry including officers, soldiers and corporals are accused of misusing the personnel’s salaries. These are the law-related issues which are under investigation by the ministry,” said Helaluddin Helal, the Defense Minister’s Assistant for Strategic Defense and Intelligence Affairs.
“In a number of districts which are faced with high security threats we have limited movements. Yes, we have problems and limitations for supply considering the high security threats there,” said Ghulam Sakhi Ahmadzai, technical deputy of MoD’s logistics.
This comes after the Afghan National Unity Government (NUG) in January asked the then incoming U.S government to increase pressure on Pakistan in order to get them to stop backing insurgent groups that continue to wage war against Afghans.
Relations between Kabul and Islamabad have been tense in recent years, with both countries accusing each other of not doing enough to tackle Pakistani and Afghan Taliban militants.
Afghanistan has accused Pakistan of turning a blind eye to Afghan Taliban commanders on its soil and even of supporting the militant group, something Islamabad denies.
Addressing journalists on Tuesday about Helmand province Waziri rejected rumors of Sangin’s collapse and said the army had not withdrawn from the city. He said only a unit stationed at the main bazaar had been relocated.
“Only the unit was relocated in order to prevent civilian casualties,” Waziri said.
Talking about security forces’ operational achievements, Waziri said that army forces conducted 16 operations countrywide in the past week.
“33 Daesh militants were killed in Nangarhar in the past week,” Waziri added.
According to him, seven successful night raids have also been carried out around the country in this time.
Security institutions have said that the Afghan security forces are planning to launch their spring offensive against the insurgents in the near future.
