World News | Banned TTP still using Afghan land to attack Pakistan: Defense Minister Asif

ISLAMABAD, April 11 (PTI) Amid a spike in attacks by the Pakistan Taliban Movement (TTP), Pakistani Defense Minister Hawaja Asif said the outlawed militant group is still using Afghan territory to carry out attacks inside the country, media reported on Tuesday.

In an interview with Voice of America on Monday, Asif expressed his concern that the TTP is using neighboring Afghanistan to carry out terrorism, Dawn newspaper reported.

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“Even today, TTP is using Afghan territory to carry out attacks against our country, especially the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province,” the minister said, adding that Pakistan maintains good relations with the interim Taliban government.

Asif’s remarks came as Pakistan has witnessed a spike in TTP violence since peace talks between the militant group and the government began to falter late last year.

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The TTP officially ended the ceasefire on November 28 and has carried out more than 100 attacks since then.

Many of these attacks were planned and directed by the leadership of militant groups based in Afghanistan.

In the interview, Asif recalled that during his recent visit to Kabul, the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan noticed the problem of increased attacks by the TTP.

Earlier this year, Asif, Lieutenant General Nadeem Anjum, Director-General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Foreign Minister Asad Majid Khan, Chargé d’affaires in Afghanistan Ubaidul Rahman A Pakistani delegation comprising Nizamani and Pakistani Special Representative for Afghanistan Mohammad Sadiq visited the Afghan capital for talks on security-related issues, including counter-terrorism measures.

“(At the meeting) the (Afghanistan) Taliban expressed their determination to solve the problem and said they would not allow their land to be used for terrorism under the Doha agreement,” the minister said in an interview.

According to reports, Asif said that the Afghan Taliban and the TTP have a “friendship” because they have been fighting NATO for the past 20 years.

“Based on what I know of TTP militants, 7,000 to 8,000 of them fought alongside the Afghan Taliban in the war against NATO,” the defense minister said.

“In this case, there is a camaraderie between the Afghan Taliban and the Pakistani Taliban, which is also seen in our talks from their (Afghan Taliban) words, they cannot oppose them (TTP), but they also want to Help Pakistan,” he added.

Asif also said that the proscribed militant groups were equipped with advanced weapons, such as night vision goggles left behind when the US military withdrew from Afghanistan in August 2021.

Referring to the recent protests in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa against increased armed movements, the minister said residents of the province were not ready to “co-exist” with the TTP.

“It is noteworthy that people are protesting the return of the Taliban (in Pakistan) unarmed. These people have also been poisoned by the Taliban in the past,” Asif said.

“It’s encouraging that people are protesting voluntarily. They haven’t protested in the past. They have realized that they don’t want to go to TTP considering they have lived a peaceful life for the past 8 to 10 years,” he added.

The minister also acknowledged that due to the political situation in Pakistan, the media often ignored protests against militancy in several parts of the country.

Responding to a question, the minister said there was no difference between the TTP and the Afghan Taliban.

“But based on our talks with the Afghan Taliban … they seem to want to distance themselves from the TTP,” Asif noted, adding that the Afghan Taliban are “politically astute” people.

Asif’s remarks came days after the National Security Council (NSC) – the main decision-making body on national security matters – agreed to launch a “comprehensive and comprehensive operation” to neutralize the terrorist threat in the country, the report said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)