President Ghani asks Pak to end 'undeclared war' against Afghanistan

Praising India's assistance to Afghanistan, Ghani further said that there were no 'hidden deals' between the two nations

In a no-holds-barred attack on Pakistan, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Sunday accused it of launching an "undeclared war" against his country by covertly supporting terror networks including the Taliban, and asked it to use its $500 million aid to check extremism on its soil.

In his address at the 6th annual conference of Heart of Asia, Ghani praised India's assistance in his country's reconstruction and noted that there were "no hidden deals" in New Delhi's growing engagement in the war-ravaged country.

Slamming Pakistan's habit of denying cross border terror attacks, he said an Asian or international mechanism must be put in place, without "playing games",to find out who was benefiting from terror, extremism and other illicit activities.

He said time has come for concrete action against terror infrastructure and those supporting it, and quoted a top Taliban commander saying unless terror sanctuaries were allowed in Pakistan, the outfit will not last even a month.

Snubbing Islamabad, he said, "We thank Pakistan for their pledges of $500 million for reconstruction of Afghanistan. This fund, Mr Aziz, could very well be used to contain extremists because without peace any amount of assistance will not meet the needs of our people."

Pakistan Prime Minister's Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz was among 30 other representatives from various countries who attended the conference inaugurated jointly by Ghani and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Ghani said despite Afghanistan's bilateral and multilateral ties with Pakistan, the "undeclared war" that started in the winter of 2014, has intensified after the recent Brussels conference on Afghanistan's transition.

The Afghan President called for setting up of international mechanism to verify reality of such attacks which have increased in the last few months.

He also sought setting up of a global fund to contain terrorism.

"There should be an Asian or international regime, whatever is acceptable to Pakistan, should be put in place to verify frontier activities and terrorist operations," said Ghani.

He added, "We do not want blame game, we want verification," besides saying, "we need to set up a fund to combat extremism."

Hailing India's role in Afghanistan's transition, he said "India's assistance is transparent and with no strings attached", while adding that "there are no hidden deals between India and Afghanistan."

Asserting that no amount of money can assist Afghanistan if there is support to terrorists by Pakistan, he said military operations in Pakistan have brought about selective displacement of terrorists.

Referring to Modi's visit to Afghanistan, he said there were spontaneous celebrations all over Afghanistan following the inauguration of Salma Dam.

He also thanked India for further assistance of $1 billion apartfrom $2 billion.

"India's assistance is transparent and with no strings attached, " Ghani said, adding an air corridor between India and Afghanistan will be soon launched to deepen trade ties.