Pak's violence in Khyber Pakthunkhwa and Balochistan needs to be stopped: Afghan president Ghani

Speaking to the Indian media, Afghanistan president Ashraf Ghani said: “There is war in Pakistan which media doesn't speak about, there are 207,000 Pak forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. This violence needs coverage and understanding and needs to be stopped.” When asked if Afghanistan would support an independent Balochistan, he said: “We don't use our territory for destabilisation. We don’t permit our territory to be used against our neighbours & behave like a responsible state even though we're under attack.

He added: “Why are we concerned that a country(Pak) can block two great nations(India-Afghan) from trading. Anyway, with Chabahar, monopoly will end. Afghanistan is at crossroads, it's no longer a landlocked country, those who block us will be blocked. Afghanistan is landlocked but thinks openly, Pak has access to the sea and thinks like a landlocked country.”

He added: "Pak is a revisionist state, every defeat is celebrated as victory; every intelligence failure is confirmation of a conspiracy theory." 

PM Modi’s and pesident Ghani’s joint-statement said: "Expeditious implementation of the trilateral agreement involving Afghanistan, India and Iran, signed in May 2016, using Chabahar will augment connectivity within and of the region.”

The leaders appreciated the recent decision taken by the three countries to convene a joint forum involving important stakeholders, including from business and industry, it added. "Both leaders welcomed intensification in the interaction involving India and Afghanistan with regional and other countries and international organisations to foster peace, stability and development in Afghanistan," the statement said.

A "milestone" pact on the strategic Chabahar Port in southern Iran, which will give India access to Afghanistan and Europe bypassing Pakistan, was inked by India and Iran in May this year after detailed discussions between Modi and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Besides the bilateral pact to develop the Chabahar port for which India will invest USD 500 million, a trilateral Agreement on Transport and Transit Corridor was also signed by India, Afghanistan and Iran, which Prime Minister Modi has said could "alter the course of the history of the region".

The trilateral pact, linked to Chabahar port development, was signed later by India, Iran and Afghanistan in the presence of Modi, Rouhani and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

The key agreement signed was a contract for development of Phase I of the Chabahar port on the southern coast of Iran by an Indian joint venture.

Chabahar port, located in the Sistan-Balochistan province on the energy-rich Persian Gulf nation's southern coast, lies outside the Persian Gulf and is easily accessed from India's western coast, bypassing Pakistan.

"The bilateral agreement to develop the Chabahar port and related infrastructure and availability of about USD 500 million from India for this purpose is an important milestone," Modi had said in joint media interaction with Rouhani.