Taliban asks Pakistan not to blame them for violence at home
The Hindu
Authorities in Pakistan said Wednesday the death toll from Monday's suicide bombing at a mosque in Peshawar increased by one to 101
Afghanistan's Taliban-appointed foreign minister Wednesday asked Pakistani authorities to look for the reasons behind militant violence in their country instead of blaming Afghanistan.
The comments from Amir Khan Muttaqi came two days after Pakistani officials said the attackers who orchestrated Monday's suicide bombing that killed 101 people in northwest Pakistan staged the attack on Afghan soil.
During a ceremony to inaugurate a drug addiction treatment center in the capital of Kabul on Wednesday, Muttaqi asked Pakistan's government to launch a serious investigation into Monday's mosque bombing in Peshawar.
He insisted that Afghanistan was not a center for terrorism, saying if that was the case then attacks would have also taken place in other countries.
“If anyone says that Afghanistan is the center for terrorism, they also say that terrorism has no border," Muttaqi said. “If terrorism had emanated from Afghanistan, it would have also impacted China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan or Iran."
“We have to cooperate with each other, instead of blaming each other," he said. “Both countries are brothers to each other and must work in a peaceful environment together.”
Authorities in Pakistan said Wednesday the death toll from Monday's suicide bombing at a mosque in Peshawar increased by one to 101. It was not clear how the bomber was able to slip into the walled police compound in a high-security zone with other government buildings.