Time to act aggressively: Karzai to Pak

Afghan president Hamid Karzai on Saturday said Pakistan and Afghanistan need to act “aggressively and effectively” to root out terrorists and their sanctuaries in both countries to ensure peace in the region.

Afghan president Hamid Karzai on Saturday said Pakistan and Afghanistan need to act “aggressively and effectively” to root out terrorists and their sanctuaries in both countries to ensure peace in the region.

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“The facts are so bare, the wound is so clear and hurting that it now requires both of us to work diligently and extremely aggressively and effectively to curb terrorism and radicalism in this region,” Karzai told a news conference he addressed jointly with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

Karzai was responding to a question on reports that Afghan Taliban militants had recently sneaked into Pakistan to carry out two attacks on security forces. If any evidence is found that the militants had come from Afghanistan, “it is the responsibility of the Afghan government to take action to stop them”, he said.

At the same time, it is the “responsibility of Pakistan to do the same with regard to militants crossing into Afghanistan”, he said. The reported attacks on Pakistani security forces by hundreds of Afghan militants are a “worrying sign” and a reason for both sides “to work harder to remove radicals from both countries and remove sanctuaries wherever they may occur”, Karzai said.