Afghan president demands Pakistan act against Taliban

KABUL - 2 February 2018: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Friday accused neighbouring Pakistan of failing to move against the Taliban and pledged a new security plan for Kabul after hundreds of people were killed and wounded in two deadly attacks on the capital last month.

Afghanistan has long accused Pakistan of aiding terrorists by giving shelter and aid to leaders of the Taliban insurgency, a charge denied by Pakistan, which points to the thousands of its own citizens killed by militant violence over the years.

"We are waiting for Pakistan to act," Ghani said in a televised address after weekly prayers, in which he accused Pakistan of being the "Taliban centre".

A recent attack on the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul and a suicide bombing on a crowded city street a week later have stoked public anger in Afghanistan and stepped up pressure on Ghani's Western-backed government to improve security.

The attacks, which killed more than 130 people and wounded hundreds more, were claimed by the Taliban, which is fighting to drive out international troops and re-establish its form of strict Islamic law in Afghanistan.

Afghan and U.S. officials say the Haqqani network, a militant group affiliated with the Taliban and believed to be based in Pakistan, was responsible.

"The attack is not against our men, women or children but against the Afghan nation and it requires a national, comprehensive response," Ghani said, adding that security officials would present a new plan on Sunday.

Ghani said 11 arrests had been made and a complete list of individuals Kabul believed to be behind the attacks as well as the networks that supported them had been given to Pakistani authorities.

But it was unclear what steps would be taken to improve the last major security plan in Kabul, which established a string of extra checkpoints and heavy vehicle controls after a truck bomb killed 150 people in the city last May.

Pakistan's embassy in Kabul said on Thursday that officials in Islamabad were assessing the evidence presented during a visit by Afghan Interior Minister Wais Barmak and the head of the NDS intelligence service, Masoom Stanekzai. It said Pakistan had given no commitment to take any action.

The attacks came at a time of already heightened tension in the region, after the United States said it would cut security aid to Pakistan, complaining the South Asian nation was not doing enough to fight terrorist groups sheltering there.