Hundreds attend anti-Pak rally in Kabul, chant ‘death to Pakistan’

Peshawar/Kabul, Sep. 7 (PTI): Hundreds of Afghan protesters, including women, took to the streets of Kabul on Tuesday, chanting “death to Pakistan” and denouncing Islamabad’s interference in Afghanistan and airstrikes by its jets in Panjshir province in support of the Taliban, according to a media report.

The Taliban on Monday said they have seized Panjshir, the last province not in their control, after their takeover of the US-backed Afghanistan government last month. The protesters claimed that Pakistan Air Force jets conducted airstrikes in Panjshir province, Khaama news reported.

Chanting “death to Pakistan”, “Freedom”, “Allah Akbar” and “we do not want captivity” among many other slogans, the protesters gathered at the gate of the Pakistani embassy in Kabul and asked its staff to leave Afghanistan, it reported.

“Pakistan, Pakistan, Leave Afghanistan, “a slogan on a huge banner read.

The agitators said they do not want a puppet government in Afghanistan and asked for an inclusive government, it said.

The Taliban fighters reportedly fired gunshots in the air to disperse the protestors but they were still agitating, the report added.

Several Afghan journalists covering the demonstration were arrested, witnesses and Afghan media outlets said.

Afghanistan’s TOLO news reported that the Taliban detained its cameraperson Wahid Ahmadi and confiscated his camera.

The Taliban forces prevented some journalists from filming the protest, it added.

The demonstrators gathered after Ahmad Masoud, the co-leader of the resistance front in Panjshir province, in a voice clip called on people of Afghanistan to resurrect against the Taliban.

According to the report, people in Blakh and Daikundi provinces also took to the streets on Monday night and chanted slogans against Pakistan.

Iran has also reacted to the airstrikes in Panjshir and the foreign ministry has asked for investigations over what he called the interference of foreign jets.

Pakistan was often accused by the Afghanistan government of giving the Taliban military aid, a charge denied by Islamabad.

The protest took place days after Pakistan’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General Lt Gen Faiz Hameed dashed to Kabul on an unannounced visit last week, amidst mounting pressure on the Taliban to form an inclusive government acceptable to the international community.

During his visit, the ISI chief had met Mullah Baradar and Hizb-e-Islami leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and discussed the current situation in Afghanistan.