On Saturday, Pakistan defence minister Khwaja Asif, in perhaps one of the boldest rebukes yet, accused the Taliban-led Afghanistan of providing safe haven to terrorists involved in bloodshed in his country.
“Pakistan would no longer tolerate this,” thundered Asif as he warned the Taliban for providing refuge to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan militants.
He said that Afghanistan is not fulfilling the right to be a neighbour and brother country and is not abiding by the Doha agreement.
“50/60 lakh Afghans have 40/50 years of asylum in Pakistan with all rights,” Asif said.
“On the contrary, the terrorists who shed the blood of Pakistanis can find refuge on Afghan soil. This situation cannot continue any longer. Pakistan will use all its resources to protect its land and citizens,” the minister said, in a stark warning to Taliban.
A similar warning was issued by Pakistan earlier this year. However, the Afghanistan Taliban had
played down the threats.
The remarks come a day after the Pakistan army warned Kabul to stop terrorists from using its soil for attacks in the country.
As many as 12 soldiers were killed in two separate terrorist incidents in Balochistan on July 13, the highest single-day toll of troops in the province.
One of the attacks was claimed by the newly-formed militant group Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan.
This is among a series of recent attacks carried out by the TTP, or Pakistan Taliban, a separate militant group that is also an ally of the Afghan Taliban.
Earlier this week, Pakistan army chief Gen Asim Munir had also warned the Afghan Taliban of an “effective response” by his forces if they fail to stop harbouring militants who plot cross-border attacks from Afghanistan.
The Taliban-run government in Kabul did not immediately respond to the Pakistani general’s remarks.
Munir was quoted as saying that Pakistan’s armed forces were seriously concerned about the “safe havens and liberty of action” the Pakistani Taliban have in Afghanistan.
He said he expects the Afghan Taliban to live up to their promises from a 2020 agreement with Washington to bar any terror group from using Afghan soil for attacks.
The TTP has become emboldened ever since the Afghan Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 after the pullout by US.
In January this year, the group killed at least 100 people in a suicide bombing in the northwestern city of Peshawar — one of the deadliest attacks in its history.
According to reports, some of the Taliban fighters helping the TTP have brought over weapons that the US left behind, including M-16s and sniper rifles with night-vision thermal goggles, the people said.
Hundreds of TTP fighters released from a Kabul prison by the Taliban after the group retook power also returned to fight in Pakistan, they added.
The TTP is the largest and deadliest of about a dozen insurgent groups in Pakistan, with thousands of fighters hailing from the tribal belt.
(With inputs from agencies)