Imran Khan, Ghani lock horns over Taliban backed Afghan crisis

Uzbekistan: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani locked horns while Ghani accusing the Pakistani military of supporting the Taliban.

The heated conversation took place at the international conference on 'Central and South Asia Regional Connectivity: Challenges and Opportunities' in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan.

India's External Minister S Jaishankar also utilised the occasion to slam Pakistan for a non-cooperation stand in facilitating connectivity with landlocked Afghanistan.

Ghani alleged that over 10,000 jihad fighters could cross the border without hindrance to Afghanistan from Pakistan in the last month and slammed Pak to convince the Taliban to include them in serious peace talks with Afghanistan.

PM Imran Khan called Ghani's blaming Pakistan for the current situation in Afghanistan unfair.

Ghani said that Pakistan failed to bring the Taliban to the discussion with Afghanistan for a fair negotiation to extend of creating peace by its influence despite repeated assurances from Prime Minister Khan and his Generals to use its force power to make the Taliban amenable.

Talking at the event, External Minister Jaishankar highlighted the importance of connectivity, commerce, and contacts for the economic growth of the region.

In his speech, Jaishankar said "development and prosperity go hand in hand with peace and security. For reliable connectivity within and through Afghanistan, the world must have confidence in its governance. Our connectivity deliberations expect predictability, efficiency and observance of norms of our time as its foundation."

He said that since 2016, India has taken "practical steps" to operationalise the Chabahar port in Iran.