No evidence to verify whether Pakistan brought in fighters to support Taliban in Afghanistan: Pentagon

 

Washington: The Pentagon has said it has seen no evidence to corroborate reports that there were Pakistan nationals along with the Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.

“I have not seen anything to corroborate that report,” Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby told reporters at a news conference on Thursday when asked about the reported allegations by former Afghanistan president Ashraf Ghani that Pakistan had sent between 10,000 to 15,000 of its men along with the Taliban to capture Kabul and Afghanistan.

“As we said before, Pakistan has a shared interest in the safe havens that exist along that border, and they, too, have become — and have been victims of terrorist activity,” Kirby said.

“And I mean, I think that’s something that we all share in common here is helping each other and not become victims to those kinds of attacks from that part of the world,” he added.

Meanwhile, a key Congressional committee has unanimously adopted an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act seeking a report from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on the security of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal.

The amendment moved by Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney was adopted by House Armed Services Committee by a voice vote on Wednesday.

It seeks a report from the Defense Secretary on the vulnerability of the nuclear arsenal of Pakistan to seizure or control.

This includes considerations of known extremism among personnel of Pakistan”s Inter-Services Intelligence and the possibility of terror threats from Afghanistan.