Top Pakistan Army official blames 'collective failures' for Afghanistan expanding war

Kabul [Afghanistan], September 10 (ANI): A top Pakistan Army official has termed the expanding war in Afghanistan a 'collective failure' and insisted that there is no military solution for the violence and will assist Afghanistan in reconciliation talks.

"Afghanistan's problems lie within Afghanistan and there is no military solution to the problems of Afghanistan as outside formulas are unlikely to yield any positive results. You cannot blame a country, an individual and an institution for the failures that are collective,"Khaama Press quoted Pakistan's Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) General Zubair Mahmood Hayat, as saying during a gathering in United Kingdom.

This statement by General Hayat comes as the Afghan officials have long been insisting that the growing instability in the country has direct links with the Taliban and Haqqani network sanctuaries remaining intact in Pakistan.

Pakistan has been under immense pressure from U.S. to eliminate the sanctuaries of the Afghan militants in its soil, Gen. Hayat said "Pakistan has tried and will try its best to partner with all forces towards reconciliation between various factions so that there is peace and stability inside Afghanistan."

Hayat added, "Pakistan stands committed to trying to stabilise Afghanistan and we are in the process of building 900 posts alongside Afghanistan-Pakistan border, we are in the process of building a fence between Af-Pak border, we are constructing gates where there will be no entry without documents and identity will be proven either way. These steps are being taken so that no bad crossing takes place and we want others to partner with us on these accounts."

While announcing strategy for Afghanistan and South Asia, US President Donald Trump had said, "For its part, Pakistan often gives safe haven to agents of chaos, violence, and terror. The threat is worse because Pakistan and India are two nuclear-armed states whose tense relations threaten to spiral into conflict. And that could happen."(ANI)