The US State Department has refused to endorse former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani’s claim that 10 to 15 thousand Pakistanis had joined the Taliban offensive on Kabul, reports international media.
Instead, a senior State Department official praised Pakistan and other partners for providing “critical assistance” to US efforts to evacuate American troops and civilians from Afghanistan.
“I’m just not in a position to comment on that, to confirm those reports,” said the department’s spokesperson Ned Price when asked to comment on Mr Ghani’s claim. The US official did not respond to another query: Whether Washington still considers Mr Ghani as Afghanistan’s legitimate ruler.
“If we have anything more, we’ll provide it,” said Mr Price when asked if he would comment on another claim that the Taliban forces now in Kabul include foreign troops.
But Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland, who also addressed this Wednesday afternoon news briefing, included Pakistan among a dozen countries who, she said, provided critical support to US evacuation efforts.
“We’re enormously grateful to the huge network of countries that have provided critical assistance for our evacuation efforts,” she said while naming Pakistan, Kuwait, Qatar, Turkey and the UAE among the countries that supported the evacuation. She also named America’s key European allies – Britain, France,
