Afghanistan-India ties would not harm Pak: Afghan envoy

Afghanistan's relationship with India would not harm Pakistan's interests, the top Afghan envoy here said today, urging Islamabad to not object to the ties and maintain "brotherly relationship" with his country.
Omar Zakhilwal said peace in Pakistan and Afghanistan was interlinked, making it incumbent that the two nations improve ties.
Zakhilwal's comments came during a round table discussion on 'Bilateral Reconciliation: Opportunities and Challenges', organised by Regional Peace Institute in Islamabad.
"Pakistan should not object to our ties with India. We assure that Afghanistan-India relationship will not inflict harm upon Pakistan," he said.
Pakistan-Afghanistan ties have remained hostile to allegations and counter-allegations on both the sides.

Kabul says Pakistan provides safe havens to terrorists who launch cross-border attacks, while Islamabad complains Afghanistan and its intelligence services provide support to militant groups such as the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

The Afghan envoy said Pakistan has "reaped high cost of war on terrorism" due to unstability in Afghanistan.
He agreed that Afghanistan should take action against the TTP, emphasising Pakistan should do the same against militants involved in violence in his country.
"Afghanistan must ensure that its soil is not used by TTP against Pakistan and similarly Pakistan must ensure that its soil is not used by the Haqqani network against Afghanistan," he said.

Talking about the direct relations and peace talks, he said the ties were mismanaged by his side. "Afghanistan mismanaged it by not keeping the balance between New Delhi and Islamabad and it was a mistake," he said.
He also said that both countries relied on China and the US for betterment in relations but "never trust each other to do the same.