Top diplomat's " no terror sanctuaries in Pakistan" comment leaves audience in splits

The reality is, however different, argued former US diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad.

An entire hall burst out in laughter after a top diplomat of Pakistan said that theer are no terror havens in his country. Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhary was laughed at in Washington when he repeatedly insisted that there are no safe sanctuaries for terrorists in his country.

Visibly irritated, Chaudhary shot back at the audience, " what is so funny about it?" He also argued that Mullah Omar never left Afghanistan to visit Pakistan.

The reality is, however different, argued former US diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad, who served as his country's ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq and the UN. have We have very firm evidence of Mullah Omar's presence in Pakistan, where he went, lived, in a hospital," he said, adding that for a long time there was the idea that Osama Bin Laden never left Afghanistan.

"What sanctuaries you are talking about? If you want to live in the past, you cannot solve the present. Haqqani and the Taliban are not our friends. They are not our proxies. What Quetta Shura you are talking about? What Peshawar Shura?" the Pak Ambassador questioned to an amused Washington audience, who was witness to sharp debate between him and Khalilzad. The panel discussion had an abrupt end as the two exchanged words.

OneIndia News