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ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office (FO) today (Monday) rejected a statement issued by the Afghanistan Foreign Ministry claiming that the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) did not operate on Afghan soil.
“The assertions of the Afghan side are contrary to facts on ground and various reports of the United Nations, which also corroborate the presence and activities of over 5000-strong TTP in Afghanistan,” the FO spokesperson said.
FO spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri asserted that Afghan soil has always been used against Pakistan and there were reports of presence of terrorists along the Afghan border.
Zahid Hafeez Chaudri said that over the last several years, the TTP has launched “gruesome terrorist attacks” inside Pakistan using Afghan soil without any retribution from its hosts.
“The 12th Report of the UN monitoring team issued in June 2021 acknowledges TTP’s ‘distinctive anti-Pakistan objectives’ and notes its location within Afghanistan ‘near the border with Pakistan’,” the spokesperson added.
“The TTP following its orchestrated reunification with its splinter groups with the help of hostile intelligence agencies, its continued presence in Afghanistan with impunity and its cross-border attacks against Pakistan poses persistent threat to our security and stability,” he said.
The Spokesperson further said that Pakistan’s commitment to fighting terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, without any discrimination is unwavering and unambiguous.
“Pakistan has been making serious and sincere efforts for facilitating intra-Afghan peace process for an inclusive political settlement. We hope that Afghans would seize this opportunity for achieving lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan,” the statement concluded.
A day earlier, Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry had said that the TTP was neither founded in Afghanistan nor did it operate on its soil.
“This movement along with other terrorist groups is recognised as the enemy of peace, stability, and prosperity in Afghanistan and the region, and the Afghan government fights against this terrorist outfit like any other terrorist group without discrimination,” the Afghan foreign ministry had said.
The statement was issued after Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said that Islamabad is expecting the Afghan Taliban will not allow terrorists groups such as the TTP to carry out activities against Pakistan.
