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WORLD NEWSSaturday 22 August 2015
Afghan ties with Pakistan sour as Taliban gain strength
Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani sings the national anthem after putting flowers on the of the relatively optimis- the group. Taliban leaders
tic outreach that Afghan direct the war from Paki-
“Independence Minaret” monument during an Independence Day ceremony in Kabul, President Ashraf Ghani stani soil, and send gun-
launched when he took men and suicide bomb-
Afghanistan. While leaders of the Afghan Taliban meet to resolve the leadership turmoil that has office a year ago. ers, weapons and money
The relentless continuation across the border every
engulfed the group since their one-eyed leader Mullah Mohammad Omar was revealed to be of Taliban attacks — and year for the Taliban sum-
the surge in violence that mer offensive. This year,
dead, Afghanistan’s relationship with Pakistan is deteriorating at a dangerous juncture in the followed the transfer of se- the warm-weather offen-
curity control from NATO to sive has been particularly
war. (AP Photo/Massoud Hossaini) Afghan forces at the end ferocious, following the
of 2014 — seems to have NATO drawdown.
LYNNE O’DONNELL year war by aiding Taliban forth across border regions exhausted Ghani’s pa- On Tuesday, Pakistan’s
tience. ambassador to Kabul,
Associated Press militants in a cynical quest barely under the control of After a series of deadly at- Syed Abrar Hussain, was
tacks earlier this month in summoned to hear a com-
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) for influence. Islamabad. the Afghan capital, Ghani plaint about border shell-
accused Pakistan on live ing, Afghan Foreign Ministry
— One of the world’s tes- Pakistan, which hosts mass- This has been a longstand- TV of being the source of spokesman Ahmad Shekib
the violence in his country. Mostaghni confirmed.
tier strategic relationships is es of Afghan refugees, de- ing issue between the two “The decisions the Pakistani A day later — on Afghan
government will be mak- Independence Day — Af-
deteriorating by the day as nies the charge and says neighbors but a recent up- ing in the next few weeks ghan Ambassador Janan
will significantly affect bi- Mosazai was summoned
Afghanistan accuses Paki- it cannot be expected to tick in stridency is striking — lateral relations for the next by Pakistan’s foreign minis-
decades,” Ghani said at try, where he heard a pro-
stan of meddling in its af- monitor the movement of and dangerous at a time the time. “We can no lon- test about a “recent spate
ger tolerate watching our of Afghan government’s
fairs and prolonging a 14- Afghan militants back and when the Taliban seem to people bleeding in a war allegations and media
exported and imposed on campaign to malign Paki-
grow more militant and us from outside.” stan,” a ministry statement
Amid the rhetoric, the ba- said.
NATO has pulled its com- sic facts are not in dispute: The “allegations undercut
leaders of the Taliban have mutual confidence and
bat troops from Afghani- been based in Pakistan affect the environment
— in Quetta, Peshawar of bilateral relations that
stan. and Karachi — since the both countries had been
U.S.-led invasion in 2001 working hard to improve,”
It also represents a reversal toppled their regime and said Pakistan’s foreign
forced them to flee. secretary, Aizaz Ahmad
Recent events also have Chaudry.
made clear the extent of
Pakistan’s influence over Continued on Page 27
UN decries ‘impunity’ after Darfur violence
JAMEY KEATEN to take human rights viola- ing in peace initiatives.
Associated Press tions seriously.” Darfur has been in turmoil
GENEVA (AP) — U.N. hu- The report released Friday since 2003, when ethnic
man rights officials say Su- denounced violations of Africans rebelled, accus-
danese security forces that international law includ- ing the Arab-dominated
were allegedly involved ing “indiscriminate” aerial Sudanese government of
in killings, sexual violence bombardment of civilian discrimination. The United
and other abuses in Darfur areas, burning of villages Nations says 300,000 peo-
last year have largely gone and destruction of other ple have died in the con-
unpunished. civilian property. flict and 2.7 million have
The U.N. Human Rights Of- It pointed to a “negligible” fled their homes.
fice, in a critical new report impact of steps by Sudan’s The report noted an up-
based on information from government to reduce surge in violence after Su-
a joint U.N.-African Union impunity, and listed 15 danese forces deployed
operation in Darfur, docu- recommendations to the in Darfur in February 2014.
mented 411 cases of al- government such as a halt According to the report,
leged violations and abuse to aerial bombing, grant- the joint A.U.-U.N. opera-
by all parties and said ing of access to areas of tion documented 127 cas-
“very few” ended in arrests human rights incidents, es of sexual, gender-based
or investigations. and strengthening judicial violence with more than
United Nations High Com- impartiality. Its five rec- 200 survivors, but found
missioner for Human Rights, ommendations for rebel only 12 of those cases went
Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, said groups included refraining to court.
the report pointed to “the from violence against civil- Authorities have repeat-
systemic failure, or outright ians, cooperating with in- edly cited a climate of im-
refusal, by the authorities vestigators and participat- punity over Darfur.q
