By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Caretaker prime minister on Wednesday accused Afghanistan’s hardline Taliban’s interim government of not only failing to act against militants who launch attacks from its territory but also of helping them in some cases, in a rare public display of frustration that could further strain relations between the neighbors.
Pakistan has been a key supporter of the Afghan Taliban since they seized power about two years ago, urging the international community to engage with them and help ease the humanitarian crisis and instability in the war-torn country.
But it has also blamed a recent spike in violence in Pakistan on a banned group, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which it says has links with the Afghan Taliban and operates from bases in Afghanistan.
“After the establishment of the interim Afghan government in August 2021, we had a strong hope that there would be long-term peace in Afghanistan. […] Strict action would be taken against Pakistan-opposing groups, especially the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, and they would absolutely not be allowed to use Afghan soil against Pakistan,” interim Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar told a news conference.
“But unfortunately, after the establishment of the interim Afghan govt, there has been a 60 percent increase in terror incidents and 500 percent rise in suicide attacks in Pakistan.”
Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said Pakistan had shared evidence of TTP’s involvement in attacks that killed more than 2,000 Pakistanis in the past two years with the Afghan authorities, but they had taken no action.
“In the past two years, 2,267 innocent citizens’ lives have been lost to this tragic bloodshed, for which the terrorists of TTP are responsible who are conducting cowardly attacks on Pakistani using Afghan soil,” the prime minister said.
“During this time, 15 Afghan citizens were also among the people involved in suicide attacks. Other than this, till now, 64 Afghan citizens were killed while fighting Pakistan’s law enforcement agencies during the counterterrorism campaign.”
Pakistan had given Afghanistan a stark choice in February, after a suicide bombing killed more than 100 people in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to either cooperate with Pakistan or side with the TTP.
The prime minister said even after reassurances from the Afghan government of acting against the TTP, “no actions were taken against anti-Pakistan groups”. “Despite the guarantees by the Afghan interim government, no concrete steps were taken against anti-Pakistan terrorist groups. In fact, evidence of facilitation of terrorists emerged on certain occasions.”
Pakistan has seen a surge in militant violence, especially after the Pakistani Taliban ended their fragile ceasefire with the government in November 2022, with most of the attacks targeting the two provinces along the Afghan frontier and mostly law enforcement agencies.
The fresh spike in militancy also comes at a time when Pakistan has undertaken a massive drive to expel almost two million Afghan nationals residing in the country for decades, without proper documentation.
PM Kakar said Pakistan had decided to address its security problems on its own and had expelled illegal immigrants, many of whom he claimed were involved in illegal activities.
“Pakistan’s recent actions regarding this are neither surprising nor unexpected. Illegal immigrants have a huge role in spreading unrest in Pakistan, which is why the state of Pakistan decided to send them back to their countries from Nov. 1.”
“Pakistan has full legal and ethical right to send back foreigners residing in the country illegally.”
Prime Minister Kakar also criticized the Afghan Taliban for issuing “misleading and hostile” statements against Pakistan, saying they had increased the frequency and intensity of attacks. “This is not only meaningful but also endorsed Pakistan’s suspicions.”
Kakar’s remarks are the first high-level public expression of Pakistan’s discontent with Afghanistan, signaling a breakdown of the previously cordial relations between the two countries, after the country witnessed a sharp rise in terror incidents in recent weeks.
Officials have repeatedly accused militants targeting their country of operating from neighboring Afghanistan and urged the Taliban government in Kabul to stop their territory from being used as a launchpad for such attacks.
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