Pak hands over terrorist activities dossier to Afghanistan

Pakistan on Thursday handed over a dossier to Afghanistan, containing of evidence of terrorist activities being carried out from Afghan soil.

The Pakistan Foreign Office, in a statement, said that the report carried evidence of the involvement of Afghan Taliban in a Swat suicide attack on the military forces last month, The Express Tribune reported.

"The dossier also contains details on the presence of terrorist sanctuaries in Afghanistan. These include hideouts of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Jamaat-ul Ahrar and other militant groups," the statement said.

"Afghanistan had been asked to take action on militant sanctuaries that had become a hotbed of anti-Pakistan activities. These included financing, planning and mounting cross-border attacks on Pakistani military installations, cities and towns," it added.

On Wednesday, Pakistan Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif, who led the delegation at the Tashkent Conference on Afghanistan in Uzbekistan, pressed for 'collective pressure' on the Afghan Taliban and other militant outfits to shun violence and to bring them to the negotiating table.

He also called for a proper regional approach for ensuring lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan and the entire South Asian region.

He further praised Uzbekistan for initiating the regional conference for the benefit of Kabul's counter-terrorism efforts.

Calling for the resolution of the decades-long Afghan conflict through political means, Asif added that bringing the Taliban to the negotiating table was a shared responsibility of the international community.

Representatives from over 20 countries and international organisations took part in the Tashkent conference, including from the United States, the European Union, the United Nations, Pakistan, Iran, China, Russia, and Central Asian nations.

Last month, Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani had made a peace offer to the Taliban group in the Kabul Process Conference, which also included the recognition of the militant group as a political entity.

However, the group is yet to respond to President Ghani's offer.

Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have remained frosty due to the terrorist activities of the Taliban and Haqqani Network carried out in Pakistan. Kabul contests that the two groups are supported by Islamabad and it does very little to stop them.

Pakistan has urged Afghanistan to stop the blame game and asked for its co-operation in combating terrorism.