ISLAMABAD, April 6 (TNS): Senior Pakistani and Afghan military officials have discussed counter-terrorism cooperation and the Pakistani side shared information about an ongoing operation against the terrorists, the foreign office has said.
A late Thursday foreign ministry’s statement said Pakistani forces are involved in the operation against the militants in Bajaur tribal region, bordering Afghanistan.
Officials say forces are fire on cross-border hideouts of the militants who carry out attacks on Pakistani border posts. The army has long been saying that Pakistani militants have crossed the border into Afghanistan as the result of military operations in recent years.
In the meeting of the Director Generals Military Operations of the two countries held in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi on Thursday, “Pakistan shared details of the operations with the Afghan side indicating that these operations were on the Pakistani side of the border,” the foreign ministry said.
“The information about the ongoing counter-terrorism operations is shared with the Afghan security forces on a regular basis,” the statement said.
Pakistan urged Afghanistan to focus on taking effective counter-terrorism actions including plugging of large gaps existing along the Afghan side of Pakistan-Afghanistan border to prevent the targeting of Pakistani civilians and security forces by terrorists from Afghan soil.
Statement by the Foreign Office came after Afghan government claimed that the Pakistani fighter jets dropped four bombs in Dangam district of eastern Kunar province late on Wednesday
Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Faisal rejected what he called the “baseless Afghan allegations of violation of its airspace and air raids inside Afghan territory by Pakistan Air Force.”
“Pakistani security forces are undertaking counter-terrorism operations in Bajaur Agency directed against terrorist groups who continue to attack Pakistan from their sanctuaries based on Afghan soil that have resulted in the loss of lives and injuries on the Pakistani side,” he said in a statement.
“It is also important that the Afghan government should refrain from the blame game. Instead, there is a need to work together to combat terrorism and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation for shared progress and prosperity of the peoples of the two countries,” Faisal said.
