Abbasi Admits Kabul Truck Bombers ‘Came From Pakistan’

AVA-Pakistan’s new prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has said the bombers behind a deadly truck bombing in the diplomatic zone of Kabul in May, which killed over 150 people, were likely to have come from Pakistan.

In an interview with Financial Times, published Monday, Abbasi also admitted the limitations of its operations but said it was doing all it could to eliminate terror groups such as the Taliban and Haqqani Network.

On the truck bombing incident he said: “I don’t know all the details, but it seems three or four people crossed over the border. There was a vehicle which travelled from that area to Kabul and was parked in an embassy compound before it blew up,” he said.

“We have 250,000 troops fighting there (in the tribal areas along the Durand Line), but we don’t have control of the full area. [Militants] often cross the border from the other side and attack our people. If the Afghan army cannot control them, and US forces cannot control them, what are we supposed to do?,” Abassi said.

Abbasi also warned the US that it risks fuelling terrorism in the region and undermining military efforts in Afghanistan if the Trump administration follows through with a threat to downgrade its relationship with Islamabad, Financial Times reported.

The prime minister told Financial Times in an earlier interview that the US’s hardline approach against Pakistan could backfire.

Just days after the Financial Times revealed that the US was considering stripping Pakistan of its status as an ally because of a perceived failure to tackle terrorism, Abbasi said the hardline approach risked backfiring.

He also hinted that Islamabad could drop the US as a supplier of military aircraft.

He did not however go into details as to what other measures Islamabad could take.

But Financial Times quoted a source close to the Pakistani army as saying: “We could make it harder for the US to use supply routes through Pakistan to serve its troops in Afghanistan, and we could stop co-operating on drone attacks. That would make the war in Afghanistan a lot more difficult.”

Abbasi also told the Financial Times that US President Donald Trump’s new war strategy for Afghanistan and the region was “confusing” and that he had to rely on media reports to find out what Trump’s plans were.

“The signals we get from Washington are confusing, but our message is very clear: we are committed to fighting terror and we will continue to fight terror,” Abbasi told the Financial Times.

“All it will do [if the US downgrades Pakistan as an ally] is degrade our efforts to fight terror, and I am not sure if that will work for the US,” he said.