Pak warns US against making it scapegoat in Afghan war

Islamabad, August 24 

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Rejecting US President Donald Trump’s remarks that Islamabad harbours terrorists safe havens, Pakistan today warned that making it a scapegoat would not help maintain stability in war-torn Afghanistan.

After a marathon five-hour long meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC), Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that the US stance on Pakistan is a “serious matter.” The top civil and military leadership cautioned the US against making Pakistan a scapegoat and said it would not help maintain stability in Afghanistan.

“The Committee outrightly rejected the specific allegations and insinuations made against Pakistan. It was observed that to make Pakistan a scapegoat will not help in stabilizing Afghanistan. In fact, being its immediate neighbor, Pakistan has an abiding interest in peace and stability in Afghanistan,” according to an official statement.

The committee observed that Pakistan had to manage the blowback of a protracted conflict in Afghanistan that resulted in deluge of refugees, flow of drugs and arms and more recently in the shape of terrorist safe havens in eastern Afghanistan from where anti-Pakistan terrorist groups continue to operate and launch attacks inside Pakistan. — PTI