Jul 8, 2008 12:00 am US/Eastern
Pakistan Leader Denies Role In Afghan Bombing
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) ―
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Pakistan Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani told reporters during a visit to Malaysia that his country has no interest in creating chaos in neighboring Afghanistan, when both countries are fighting the common enemy of Islamic terrorism. (File)
John Moore/Getty Images
Pakistan's prime minister Tuesday denied that his country's intelligence agency had any hand in the suicide bombing that killed 41 people outside the Indian Embassy in the Afghan capital.
Pakistan Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani told reporters during a visit to Malaysia that his country has no interest in creating chaos in neighboring Afghanistan, when both countries are fighting the common enemy of Islamic terrorism.
The Afghan Interior Ministry has hinted that Monday's attack was carried out with help from Pakistan's intelligence service.
Asked to comment on Afghanistan's view, Gilani said: "Why should Pakistan destabilize Afghanistan? It is in our interest to have a stable Afghanistan."
"We want stability in the region. We ourselves are a victim of terrorism and extremism."
"Maybe there are those who want to destabilize the region and those who are a threat to the world," said Gilani on the sidelines of a summit of eight developing Islamic nations. He did not elaborate.
On Monday, Pakistan Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood condemned the attack. But Gilani's comment is the first high-level denial of involvement by the government.
Monday's blast was carried out by a suicide car bomber, who followed a diplomat's vehicle and detonated the explosives at the building's main entrance, only 30 yards (meters) from where dozens of Afghans had lined up to apply for visas.
Among the 41 dead were four Indians, including the military attache and a diplomat. The blast was the deadliest in Kabul since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001.
Afghanistan often accuses Pakistani intelligence of supporting the Taliban insurgency, a charge denied by Islamabad.
But suspicions run deep in the U.S.-backed government in Afghanistan because of historical reasons — Pakistani intelligence helped create the Taliban militia, many of whose leaders and recruits studied at religious schools in Pakistan.
Despite international condemnation of the Taliban regime's fundamentalist rule in Afghanistan from 1996-2001, Pakistan was one of the few countries that gave it diplomatic recognition, underscoring the importance to Pakistan of having a strong ally in power in its neighbor.
Pakistan formally abandoned its support for the Taliban after Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington. Still, Taliban leaders are suspected to getting continued shelter and support in Pakistan, and maintaining links with the Pakistani intelligence agency.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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