Monitoring Desk
KABUL: Former national security advisor Hanif Atmar believes the Islamic State, locally known as Daesh, poses a serious threat to the region.
“Yes, it is posing a real threat – not only to Afghanistan, but to the entire region. This is a real danger, a real threat,” Atmar said in an interview aired on Wednesday.
Most of ISIL militants were foreign, sneaking into Afghanistan from the other side of the Durand Line, the ex-advisor told the Qatar-based TV channel Al-Jazeera.
The best way to eliminate the terrorist outfit from Afghanistan was to make peace between the government and the Taliban, said Atmar, who plans to run for the president.
While stressing a comprehensive peace settlement, he said the presence of foreign troops was the main issue for the Taliban leaders he had talked to.
To move forward on the peace front, Atmar suggested, reconciliation and reintegration processes had to be reviewed.
The ongoing conflict in the country had regional and global dimensions and state and non-state actors, he said. “That is why it is the most distractive and protracted conflict in the history of Afghanistan.”
In his election campaign, Atmar said he would focus on national unity, lasting peace, justice, good governance, economic growth and cooperation with the regional and international. (Pajhwok)
