Former Afghan NSA Criticises Pakistan’s Terror Policy Shift As ‘Too Late but Right’

Rangin Dadfar Spanta, Afghanistan’s former National Security Adviser, has strongly criticised Pakistan amid renewed tensions with India, accusing Islamabad of "rewriting history" following its recent shift in stance on terrorism.

In a statement published on Friday, Spanta described Pakistan’s reconsideration of its historic support for terrorist groups as “too late, but right.” He called on Islamabad to abandon the use of terrorism as an instrument of foreign policy, asserting that the country had long provided increasing support to extremist networks.

His remarks came in response to a rare admission by Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, who told Sky News that successive Pakistani governments had supported terrorist organisations for decades. “We have been doing this dirty work for the United States for about three decades, you know, and the West, including Britain,” Asif said.

Spanta, a key figure in Afghanistan’s previous administration, highlighted that Kabul had consistently warned Pakistan against allowing its territory to be used as a base for terrorist activities. However, he stated that Pakistan had never responded constructively to Afghanistan’s repeated calls to end the use of terrorism against its neighbour.

Concluding his statement, Spanta emphasised that both Afghanistan and Pakistan are now victims of terrorism. He urged that neither country should serve as a base for extremist operations against one another or any other nation.