Afghanistan’s President, Ashraf Ghani, blamed neighboring Pakistan for what he described as Islamabad’s support to Taliban militants.

Afghanistan’s President, Ashraf Ghani, blamed neighboring Pakistan for what he described as Islamabad’s support to Taliban militants, after a suicide car bombing earlier in the day near Kabul’s international airport killed five people.

In a televised address, Ghani called on Islamabad to crack down on the insurgents, and said he was sending a delegation to Islamabad later this week.

“We know they have sanctuaries there, we know they are active there,” Ghani said, referring to Taliban leaders living in Pakistan. “We need all those activities to be stopped.”

Since assuming office a year ago, Ghani has pursued closer relations with Pakistan, which wields influence over the insurgent group, hoping that it could use that influence to bring the Taliban into peace negotiations.

For its part Pakistan, which has in the past denied supporting the Taliban, said it remains committed to maintaining good relations with Kabul and that after losing tens of thousands of its own people to terrorist attacks, it can feel the “pain and anguish of the brotherly people” of Afghanistan over the latest attacks there.

“Pakistan condemns these deadly attacks in Afghanistan in the strongest terms,” said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, adding that Pakistan will continue to support and facilitate an “Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace and reconciliation process” with the Taliban.

Pakistan hosted the first official round of Kabul-Taliban negotiations last month, but a second round that was due at the end of last month was indefinitely postponed after the Afghan government announced the death more than two years ago of the reclusive Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar.

In his Monday address, Ghani appeared to take a step back on the peace talks.
“We don’t want Pakistan to bring the Taliban to peace talks, but to stop the Taliban’s activities on their soil,” he said.

Only hours earlier, a suicide car bombing at a busy roundabout near the entrance to the Kabul airport killed at least five people and wounded 16, officials said. The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Kabul provincial police chief, Abdul Rahman Rahimi, told Associated Press that a car packed with explosives blew up at the busy intersection.

Ghani also underlined his concerns in a telephone conversation Monday with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

Kerry’s spokesman John Kirby said the two discussed the need of Afghanistan and Pakistan to eliminate safe havens for Taliban insurgents.