Protest in Kabul as Afghan officials press Pakistan over attacks

KABUL: Demonstrators protested outside the Pakistani embassy in Kabul as senior Afghan officials said they had handed over evidence connecting insurgents based in Pakistan with a recent spate of attacks that killed well over 100 people.

The protest, in which dozens of people burnt flags and chanted, ‘Death to Pakistan’, was not large, but it came during a period of heightened tension in the Afghan capital following two major attacks in the past two weeks.

On Thursday, Interior Minister Wais Barmak and Masooom Stanekzai, head of the NDS intelligence service, returned from a visit to Islamabad, where they had pressed Pakistani authorities to move against Taliban leaders based in the country.

“We provided Pakistan with documents about Taliban operating centres inside Pakistan and we expect Pakistan to act against them,” Barmak told a news conference in Kabul.

However, he declined to provide details on the information provided, citing the need to keep operational intelligence secret while investigations continued.

A Pakistani security delegation is due to visit Kabul on Saturday to continue the discussion, which comes as the United States has cut off some aid to Pakistan over what it calls its failure to crack down on militants attacking in Afghanistan. —