Afghan leader urges Pakistan to battle Taliban

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has called on Pakistan to fight the Taliban militants rather than attempt to bring them into peace talks.

President Ghani made the remarks on Monday during an address to both houses of the Afghan parliament a week after a militant assault in the heart of the capital Kabul killed at least 64 people and wounded another 340.

The bomb and gun attack, claimed by the Taliban, targeted the offices of Afghanistan's main security agency in a densely packed Kabul neighborhood during the last Tuesday morning rush hour.

"I want to make it clear that we no longer expect Pakistan to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table," Ghani said, adding, “But we expect them to launch a military operation against their sanctuaries and leadership based on their soil. If they can't target them they should hand them over to our judiciary."

The Afghan leader went on to say there are "no good or bad terrorists, they are just terrorists," and that "Pakistan must understand that and act against them."

Elsewhere in his remarks, Ghani also vowed a tough military response against the insurgent group and pledged to enforce execution of convicted militants.

"The time for amnesty is over," the Afghan leader said, noting, "For the Taliban who are ready to end bloodshed, we have left the door open for talks. But the door will not be open forever."

Pakistan, which wields influence on the insurgent group, mediated the first round of direct peace talks between delegates from the Afghan government and the Taliban last summer, but a planned second meeting was canceled after news broke that Taliban’s founder and long-time leader Mullah Omar had died two years ago.

SS