Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry on Monday warned the newly appointed interior minister of Afghanistan against trivialising the threat from the Daesh militant group, saying the minister needed a reality check.
In a Twitter post, Chaudhry said it was time for the minister to “get real” and decide whether he wanted Pakistan as a partner or as a scapegoat for Afghan government’s failures.
“Trivializing the threat of ISIS is to live in [cuckooland], the new Afghan interior minister needs a reality check. Decide if you want Pakistan as a partner or as a scapegoat for your own govt’s failures. Mr. Minister! Time to get real and give up phantom thoughts from a paranoid mind,” the info minister wrote.
Amrullah Saleh, who served as National Directorate for Security (NDS) chief until 2008, was appointed acting interior minister of Afghanistan on Sunday, in a step that could affect both next year’s presidential election and moves toward peace with the Taliban.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani also named Asadullah Khalid, who suffered horrific injuries in a Taliban suicide attack shortly after taking over the NDS in 2012, as acting defense minister.
Both men, veterans of decades of conflict in Afghanistan, have been uncompromising opponents of the Taliban and of Pakistan.
The appointments come at a critical time, with elections due in April and talks between US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and Taliban representatives over a possible peace deal expected to continue in January following three meetings this year.
Earlier in the day, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi met Ghani during a visit to Kabul. His visit is part of the first leg of a four-nation tour as part of the government’s policy of outreach in the neighbourhood.
Qureshi also held delegation-level talks with his Afghan counterpart Salahuddin Rabbani.
Published in Daily Times, December 25th 2018.
