There should be no distinction in good, bad terrorists, says Afghan CEO Abdullah Abdullah

Washington, Dec 18: In an apparent reference to the Pakistan's policy of differentiations between various terrorist groups, a top Afghan leader has said the critical decision of not making distinction between good and bad terrorists should be taken soon in the better interest of all.

"If there is one lesson in what has happened in Pakistan, that these terrorists at the end of the day will turn against every state and every state institutions.

"So the sooner that decision and that critical decision of not making any distinction between good one and bad one among the terrorists is taken, that will be in the better interest of all of us," Afghan CEO Abdullah Abdullah told the CNN in an interview.

Mourning the killing of 148 people, including 132 school children, in the Taliban attack at an army school in Peshawar, Abdullah said Afghanistan has never made any distinction between good and bad terrorists.

"We never made any distinction between good terrorists and bad terrorists. And when this tragedy took place in Pakistan, Afghanistan was also mourning," he said.

"While I don't want to get into what has happened in the past, we all know that our people have suffered for so many years because of the terrorist actions, and we know where those terrorists were and where their camps were. Now, there is a new phase of relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan," he said.

On the Pakistan's claim that the perpetrators of the Peshawar attack are based in Afghanistan, Abdullah said there is no proof of that. "There is a claim that some of these terrorists might be in the border areas, at the side of the line," he said.

"While we don't have any proof of that, but at the same time there is no doubt that Afghan government believes that terrorism and radicalism are common threats. If there is anything that we can do to prevent people crossing to our side of the border and making use of our territory, we will not hesitate," Abdullah said.

PTI