People supporting terror should be identified: Afghanistan

NEW DELHI: In a clear reference to Pakistan, the National Security Adviser of Afghanistan today said if a country cannot be designated as sponsor of terror, at least individuals hiding behind state protection should be identified.

Without taking Pakistan's name, Hanif Atmar said his country is engaged in an "undeclared state-to-state war" and talked about certain terror groups getting Islamabad's support.

He also said associating terrorism with Islam was wrong, misleading and inappropriate, holding that the Muslim community has been making huge sacrifices to defeat terrorism.

Speaking at a conference on combating terrorism, he hailed India's contribution to Afghanistan's stability and reconstruction and said his country considers the relationship with New Delhi as a "national treasure".

Atmar said Afghanistan's ties with India is as important as its relationship with the US and the NATO, indicating that India was playing a major role in enhancing the war-torn country's defence and security.

Demanding concrete action against countries sponsoring terrorism, he said if that is not possible than people supporting terror groups while hiding behind the state must be named.

"We often hear from the international community that it is difficult to designate a state as sponsor of terrorism as there are many implications.

"If we do not have the courage to designate a state, then let's designate individuals who are sponsoring terror and hiding behind the state. Let's hold them accountable for supporting terror," he said.

He also said that the South Asian Region including the Af-Pak region has the highest concentration of organised terrorists anywhere in the world and a clear strategy was required to defeat them.

The Afghan NSA said associating terror with Islam will make it difficult to understand and deal with terrorism, adding collectively the Muslim world is losing more people to terrorism than any other civilisation.

He called Muslims reliable partners in defeating extremist ideologies.

Rejecting any distinction between good and bad terrorists, Atmar said such approach can change a perpetrator to a victim as well because "such terrorist organisations are capable of morphing into a Frankenstein monsters and they will come after their own masters."

"Despite international investment in countering it, terrorism is growing its capabilities and presence in our region," he said.

Atmar said Afghanistan considers terror outfits LeT and JeM as enemies and that Pakistan should never allow them sanctuary.

"We share the region with Pakistan which has the highest concentration of terrorists anywhere," he said.

According to him, nearly 10,500 people lost lives in terror strikes in Afghanistan in the the last 14 months.