India Controlling Foreign Policy of Afghanistan, Spoiling “Af-Pak” Relations: Pakistan

Is India really dominating the foreign and domestic polcy of Afghanistan which is detrimental to Pakistan-Afghanistan relations? According to Minister of State for Interior of Pakistan – Shehryar Afridi, India has tighten the grip and strengthened its influence over Afghanistan, which is damaging the Pakistan-Afghanistan relations. EurAsian Times analyses the allegations.

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Addressing a seminar in Islamabad, Shehryar Afridi said, “India has tightened its grip over Afghanistan. Delhi has so much influence over Kabul that that I was made to wait for two hours at the border for SP Tahir Dawar’s body.”

Earlier, as EurAsian Tiems reported, Pakistan and Afghanistan appear to have been locked in a renewed diplomatic row, following the killing of a Pakistani police officer on the Afghan soil.

Kabul handed over the body of SP Tahir Khan Dawar, who was found murdered in the Afghan province of Nangarhar to a Pakistani delegation led by State Minister for Interior Affairs Shehryar Afridi at Torkham border on Thursday.

Dawar hailed from powerful Dawar tribe of Pakistan’s North Waziristan region — was kidnapped by unknown men late last month from the capital Islamabad and taken to Afghanistan, according to Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry.

Earlier, according to Radio Pakistan, the Afghan officials had refused to hand over the slain officer’s body to Pakistani authorities insisting that the body would be delivered to a parliamentarian from North Waziristan, Mohsin Dawar, who too hails from Dawar tribe. However, the body was later handed over to Pakistani officials.

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Afghan Charge d’ Affairs for the third time over the last two days to lodge a protest over “brutal murder” of the police officer.

“Afghan Cd’A in Islamabad was called to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs twice yesterday, and again this afternoon to register our strong protest over the inordinate delay and manner of return of the body. Written and verbal demarches were made, which resulted in the visit of an official delegation to Afghanistan, who brought it back to Peshawar this evening,” said a statement by Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry.

“It is hoped that Afghan authorities will offer full cooperation in ascertaining the circumstances under which a Pakistani police officer was found killed in Afghanistan”, it added.

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Blame Game: Afghanistan vs Pakistan

Pakistani media accused the Afghan intelligence agency (NDS) of being involved in the murder. Also, Pakistan’s army indirectly accused Kabul of having a hand in the incident, which, according to analysts, might further strain on already frosty relations between the two neighbors.

“We have lost a brave police officer. His abduction, move to Afghanistan, murder and follow up behavior of the Afghan authorities raise questions, which indicate involvement and resources more than a terrorist organization in Afghanistan,” Maj. Gen, Asif Ghafoor, the military spokesman, said in a statement.

Ghafoor called on Afghanistan to cooperate in border fencing and bilateral border security coordination to deny use of Afghan territory against Pakistan. The Kabul government has yet to officially respond to the remarks made by spokesman for the Pakistan Army.

However, Imtiaz Wazir, a local tribal leader in Nangarhar province, pronounced the killing of Dawar as a ploy by the Pakistan’s spy agency – ISI to sow hatred among the Pashtun community in the two countries.

Both nations have accused each other of sponsoring terrorism, with Islamabad blaming Indian RAW and Afghanistan’s NDS of working against Pakistan. India and Afghanistan on the other hand have consistently accused Pakistan of using terrorism as a state-policy against peaceful neighbours.

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