Ghani on Pakistan: We will swim, not sink, together

WASHINGTON (Pajhwok): As a result of Pakistan, President Ashraf Ghani said on Thursday.

“This year, Pakistan» is going to have its own season of fighting, and that changes the dynamic,” the visiting Afghan leader told an audience at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York soon after his arrival from Washington.

“We’ve already had 200,000 refugees flowing into Afghanistan as a result of the military operations. The great network of terrorism that was centered in North and South — from Al Qaida to Chechens, to Uzbeks and others — is being dislocated,” Ghani said.

“On Pakistan, I’m cautiously optimistic that we began a process of fundamental transformation. We defined the problem — that Pakistan» has been in an undeclared state of hostilities with Afghanistan for 13 years.

“Fortunately, they’ve accepted this definition. We are working to end this state of hostilities. So, peace between Afghanistan and Pakistan is the primary piece,” the president told a questioner.

Pakistan was threatened, particularly after the Peshawar school attack, he believed, remarking the terrorists neither required passports nor recognised nationalities,

“We need to be able to deal regionally with a compact for stability in prosperity, otherwise we will all sink. And I’m hopeful that we will have sufficient wisdom not to sink, but swim together,” Ghani said.

Over the last six months, he added, Afghanistan had gone from a defensive to an offensive position. Today, an unprecedented movement by the Afghan army is taking place in Helmand province and in a number of related areas.

The current year is going to be difficult in terms of security year, as Afghanistan had no break during the winter. The president claimed the Afghans had demonstrated their capability and will, but they were still going to be tested.

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