Stop interfering in Afghanistan's affairs, ex-President Hamid Karzai chides Imran Khan

In a series of tweets, Karzai also asked the Pakistan PM not to sow discord among Afghans and not speak on behalf of Afghans at international forums.

Publishing his statement in English on Monday, Karzai called Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan's remarks on Sunday at the Extraordinary Session of OIC Council of Foreign Ministers as “an attempt to sow discord among Afghans, and an insult to the Afghan people”.

He said “Moreover, allegation that #ISIS is active in #Afghanistan, threatening #Pakistan from #Afghanistan is clear propaganda, as the reality has been the opposite.

“The threat of #ISIS has been directed from #Pakistan against #Afghanistan from the very onset,” he stressed.

“The former President urges the Gov of #Pak to strictly refrain from propagating against #Afg and interfering in our internal affairs.

“#Pakistan should avoid speaking on behalf of #Afghanistan in international forums .It should work towards creating positive and civilized relations between the two countries,” Karzai said.

On Sunday, Karzai lashed out against Imran Khan for his remarks about Afghan politics and the threat of Daesh attacks and asked him not to interfere in Afghanistan’s internal affairs.

Karzai, in response to Pakistan PM Khan's remarks at the OIC summit, said Pakistan "should not intervene in Afghanistan’s internal affairs and should avoid speaking on behalf of Afghanistan at international forums."

At the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting on Afghanistan, Imran Khan claimed several Daesh attacks had been launched from Afghanistan's border into Pakistan.

Khan said the ISI threatens Pakistan from Afghanistan, adding that stability in Afghanistan is necessary. “We have had attacks from (the) Afghan border, from ISIL, into Pakistan,” he said.

Karzai in reaction said these allegations are not true. He said Daesh from the beginning has been threatening Afghanistan from Pakistan, and not the other way around.

“These remarks are not true, and are obvious propaganda against Afghanistan,” Karzai said in a statement in Pashto.

“In fact, from the beginning, Afghanistan has been facing Daesh’s threat from Pakistan.”

Imran Khan also said that due to years of corruption in the Afghan government, poverty was widespread in Afghanistan even before the former government's collapse.

“Even before 15th of August, half the population was below the poverty line, years of corrupt governance, 75 percent of the budget was supported by foreign aid. Now a country in that situation, after 15th of August, if the foreign aid dries up, the foreign funds get frozen, banking system freezes, any country is going to collapse, let alone Afghanistan which suffered for the past 40 years,” Khan said.

Regarding the human rights issues which the international community has set as a condition for recognition of the Islamic Emirate, Khan told the OIC that differences between cultures in different parts of the country must be understood before promoting new values.

“The city culture is completely different from the rural culture. Culture in Kabul was always different to rural areas. Just like in Peshawar, it is completely different, the culture, to the district adjoining the Afghanistan border,” he said.

Reacting to Khan’s remarks, especially his point about corruption in Afghanistan in which Karzai served as a president for two terms and an interim period, Karzai said the Pakistan government must stop interfering in Afghanistan’s affairs and stop talking on behalf of Afghanistan at international gatherings. Karzai also said such remarks insult the people of Afghanistan.

“Pakistan's government should not interfere in Afghanistan’s internal affairs and should avoid speaking on behalf of Afghanistan in international forums,” Karzai said.

Karzai’s remarks on Pakistan came as India and the five Central Asian nations in a joint statement at the Third India-Central Asia Dialogue on Sunday “stressed on the territorial integrity of Afghanistan and non-interference in its internal affairs”.