- Afghan Government Apprehends Terrorists Responsible for Attacks in Pakistan
- Growing Concerns About Cross-Border Terrorism
- Interim Afghan Foreign Minister Addresses Relations and International Issues
Wednesday, Interim Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani announced that the Afghan government had apprehended several terrorists responsible for attacks in Pakistan and notified the relevant authorities in Islamabad.
In response to a query about transnational terrorism, Jilani shared this information with reporters at the Foreign Office.
Pakistan continues to face terror incidents, which have been on the rise since the banned militant group Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) ended a ceasefire agreement in November of last year, and there are growing concerns about cross-border terrorism by Afghanistan-based elements.
Pakistan’s military leadership and former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, whose tenure ended this month, expressed concern regarding the availability of “safe havens” and “liberty of action” for militants in Afghanistan, stating that Afghan citizens were also involved in terror attacks in Pakistan. They had also demanded action from Kabul.
In the initial response to these allegations, Suhail Shaheen, a Taliban spokesperson in Qatar, told that Kabul was devoted to not allowing anyone to use Afghan soil against another nation.
However, another spokesperson for the Islamic Emirate, Zabiullah Mujahid, adopted a tougher stance — ostensibly in an attempt to appeal to the Afghan public — urging Pakistan to resolve its internal issues on its own, rather than pointing fingers at others.
Recently, Afghanistan’s paramount leader warned Taliban members against conducting international attacks. A few days later, however, Afghan authorities claimed that dozens of banned Islamic State (IS) militants from Pakistan had been slain or apprehended in Afghanistan over the past year.
A Khyber Pakhtunkhwa CTD source told Dawn earlier this month that Islamabad and Kabul were discussing militancy.
“There is state-to-state contact [between Pakistan and Afghanistan] to devise a solution [to the infiltration of militants into Afghanistan]. Shaukat Abbas, assistant inspector general and CTD KP chapter chief, told reporters that serious conversations are underway.
In the meantime, according to a United Nations report, the TTP and other groups affiliated with the Taliban and Al Qaeda are providing weapons of NATO caliber to the militant IS group, which continues to pose a grave threat in conflict zones and surrounding areas.
Not a political arrangement
Jalil stated that the responsibility of the caretaker government was to assure free and fair elections. “However, conducting elections is the responsibility of the election commission, not the interim government,” he added.
Moreover, he asserted that the interim government’s tenure was brief.
This is a neutral setting, and we will not engage in politics. As a temporary organization, we will operate within our authority,” he said.
Jilani added that the interim government would not participate in “international power politics.”
He believed New Delhi would offer complete protection for the Pakistani team for the ODI World Cup in India.
He said India negotiations will recognise Pakistan’s principled position and that a Kashmir resolution must meet local and UN demands.
