Pakistan blasts Karzai’s outburst

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan reacted strongly on Sunday to a statement by Afghan President Hamid Karzai casting doubt over Islamabad’s cooperation in the fight against terrorism.

“What the Afghan leaders can and must do is to talk less and do more in putting their house in order,” Foreign Office Spokesman Masood Khan said after Karzai’s comments that Pakistan must do more to seize Taliban fighters on its territory. “We cannot stop (Taliban) terrorism so long as Pakistan does not cooperate,” Karzai told German weekly Der Spiegel.

Mr Khan said Afghanistan could improve security by curbing warlords, factional fighting and narcotics production and trafficking. “They have been advised to do so by Pakistan, the US and the UN Security Council,” he added. Two years after their defeat by US-led forces for harbouring Osama bin Laden, Afghanistan’s former rulers are staging increasingly bold attacks on aid workers, troops and government targets. They have also taken control of several southeast border districts, according to the UN and Afghan officials. —AFP

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