Pakistan condemns Kabul attack, reiterates support for peace

Pakistan on Friday strongly condemned the terrorist attack in Kabul, which resulted in the loss of several precious lives and injuries to many others.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with those who have suffered in this tragedy and we are relieved that the leadership has remained unharmed," Foreign Office Spokesperson Aisha Farooqui said in a statement.

She also said Pakistan had consistently supported a negotiated political solution of the Afghan conflict.

“This is a historic juncture. Pakistan urges all the parties to work together in a constructive spirit for establishing durable peace and stability in Afghanistan,” the statement added.

At least 27 people were killed in an attack on a political rally in Kabul Friday, officials said, in the first major assault in the city since the US signed a withdrawal deal with the Taliban.

Interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said women and children were among the dead.

Taliban, who resumed attacks on Afghan forces after President Ashraf Ghani refused to release prisoners as promised in Doha deal, said they did not carried out the Friday's attack in Kabul. 

Earlier this week, Taliban in an attack killed at least 16 Afghan forces in Imam Sahib district of Kunduz province.

Afghan security forces informed the local news agency later that the Taliban took another 10 soldiers into prison.

On February 29, the United States and the Afghan Taliban signed a peace deal in Qatar after a long spell of negotiations.

Taliban deputy leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad inked the deal in an opulent hall in a five-star hotel in Dohar, Qatar.

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Quraishi attended the ceremony on special invitation. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo witnessed the signing.