Pakistan not invaded Afghanistan but acted against terrorists: FO

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday said that the intelligence-based operation it had carried out on March 18 was not an invasion of Afghanistan but an action against the sanctuaries of terrorists hiding inside Afghanistan and posing threats to Pakistan’s security.

“Pakistan has not invaded Afghanistan. We have no designs against Afghanistan. The operation was not against the people, institutions, or military of Afghanistan.

The target was the terrorists belonging to Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group, which along with Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, is responsible for multiple terrorist attacks inside Pakistan,” Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said in her weekly press briefing.

She said Pakistan respected the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Afghanistan and wanted friendly relations with the neighboring country. Both countries should work towards removing the issues hurdling the strengthening of the bilateral ties, she remarked.

She told the media that Pakistan had repeatedly conveyed its serious concerns to the Interim Afghan Government over the presence of terror outfits including TTP inside Afghanistan which have consistently used Afghan territory to launch terror attacks inside Pakistani territory.

She said the Afghan side was repeatedly urged to take concrete action to ensure that the Afghan soil was not used as a staging ground for terrorism against Pakistan. She said following the March 16 terrorist attack in North Waziristan, Pakistan had communicated with the Afghan side and also issued a demarche, conveying serious concerns about the involvement of Gul Bahadur Group in the attack.

The spokesperson informed the media that Pakistan had shared concrete pieces of evidence with Afghan side on the presence of terrorist hideouts which was also confirmed by international observers as well as the United Nations.

Responding to the media queries regarding the statement of US Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu at the US Congressional hearing, the spokesperson said it was an internal matter of the US where the Congressmen and the Administration were involved.

She observed that some statements made at the hearing regarding Pakistan showed a misunderstanding of the issues.

Coming to the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, Spokesperson Baloch said Pakistan was starting work on the project within its territory, considering its significance for meeting its energy needs. She said Pakistan was also engaged with the US on the matter and had conveyed the cruciality of the project for Pakistan.

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