Afghan President Demands Pakistan Take Military Action Against Taliban

Afghan President Demands Pakistan Take Military Action Against Taliban

President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan said that Pakistan needed to live up to the agreement

made in quadrilateral talks to help eliminate Taliban sanctuaries within its country.


KABUL, Afghanistan — After courting Pakistan for more than a year, President Ashraf Ghani

of Afghanistan changed course on Monday and warned that he would lodge a complaint with

the United Nations Security Council if Pakistan refuses to take military action against

Taliban(41 leaders operating from its soil to wage an increasingly deadly insurgency across

Afghanistan.

Mr. Ghani has taken pains to persuade Pakistan's leadership, particularly its powerful

military, to bring the insurgent leaders to the negotiating table. But an increase in Taliban

violence, including a brutal attack last week in the heart of the Afghan capital, Kabul, that

left at least 64 people killed and more than 300 wounded, has forced Mr. Ghani to effectively

end what has been a cornerstone effort of his troubled presidency.

"l want to make it clear that we do not expect Pakistan to bring the Taliban to talks," Mr.

Ghani said on Monday in a rare joint session of the two houses of the Afghan Parliament.

He said that in quadrilateral talks over the past year that involved the United States and

China, Pakistan had pledged "in writing" to go after Taliban leaders who refuse to join the

peace process.


"We want the Pakistanis to fulfill their promises in the quadrilateral and take military action

against those who have their centers in Pakistan and whose leaders are in Pakistan based on

our security organizations, the intelligence of our international partners, and the words of

Pakistan officials," Mr. Ghani said.

"If we do not see a change, despite our hopes and efforts for regional cooperation, we will be

forced to turn to the U.N. Security Council and launch serious diplomatic efforts."

Despite repeated promises from Pakistan to bring Taliban leaders to talks, the peace efforts

seem to have gone nowhere with the insurgency using the window to consolidate after

infightingll Il emerged in the ranks and launch another spring offensive promising to be

bloodier than in years past. Unlike previous years, the violence did not subside even in the

harsh winter months.

In his address on Monday, Mr. Ghani called the insurgents terrorists who "take pleasure in the

torn-up bodies of our innocents," and their leaders "slavelike" and involved in narcotics

mafias.

But the Taliban were quick to respond; their spokesmen posted on Twitter live during Mr.

Ghani's address.

"The nation is not blind — it realizes who is a slave, and who is a hireling," said Zabihullah

Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, posting a picture of senior government officials listening to the

former commander of NATO and United States forces in Afghanistan, Gen. John F. Campbell.

"We will continue fighting until the occupation is ended."

Follow Mujib Mashal on nvitter@MujMasht.

Citation: Mashal, Mujib. "Afghan President Demands Pakistan Take Military  Action Against Taliban." 25 April 2016. New York Times. 26 April 2016. <http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/26/world/asia/afghanistan-pakistan-taliban.html?ref=world&_r=1>

Response: This article is talking about how the Afghan president is urging Pakistan to take out the leaders of the Taliban residing on their soil that refuse to join the peace talks. Pakistan has promised "in writing" but no action has taken place. Recently the Taliban attacked the capital city of Afghanistan, Kabul, and as a result many people were killed. This article is very clearly biased towards Afghanistan. The author of this article never mentions any possible reasons for Pakistan's lack of action and paints them to look like cowards. The author chose to relay that 300 were wounded and 64 were killed in the attacks in Kabul which may be truthful information it is not 100% relevant to the author's point. The article ends with a tweet posted by the Taliban against the government of Afghanistan. This article portrays the Taliban in an unruly and brutal light, while victimizing Afghanistan, and at the same time seemingly blaming Pakistan for everything.