(MENAFN- Daily Outlook Afghanistan) WASHINGTON - Eighty-five percent of improvised explosive devices used by militants in Afghanistan originate from Pakistan, a retired US general has said.
Speaking at a Heritage Foundation event this week, Jack Keane, a former vice chief of staff of the US Army, said that Pakistan's intelligence service and its army have been supporting the Taliban.
He said that Pakistan was harboring the Taliban at Miramshah and Quetta and it supported two fertilizer factories where 85 percent of all IEDs made inside Afghanistan to kill Afghans and Americans come from.
Keane also said that he was not optimistic about the potential for a peace settlement in Afghanistan.
He said that the Taliban believe that a deal with US will help tip the political and military balance in their favor and help them to eventually overthrow the Afghan government.
'They don't want a political settlement, they don't want to share power, they don't want to participate in a democracy, Keane said adding 85 percent of Afghanistan reject the Taliban.
Keane also said his politically astute sources in Afghanistan say the Taliban wouldn't win a single district in the event of an election.
'The people absolutely do not want them because they're living under their boot, Keane said of the Taliban. 'They're living under their tyranny. They're living under the fact that they can't educate their children. (1TV NEWS)
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