Kanul: The Pakistani ambassador to Kabul has expressed the countrys serious concerns over the active presence of foreign terrorist groups in Afghanistan, who use Afghan soil to carry out terror related attacks and activities in Pakistan.
Ambassador Mansoor Ahmed Khan said that terror groups like Daesh and Al-Qaeda pose a serious threat to Pakistan as they facilitate, support and operate in tandem with terror groups in Pakistan.
“Terrorist organisations present in Afghanistan have been posing threats to the security of Afghanistan as well as to other countries, including Pakistan. Daesh is there, and remnants of Al-Qaeda may be there too. Then there are elements like Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Baloch insurgents and many other groups,” said Ahmed Khan during an interview with Afghanistan’s Tolo News.
Khan also expressed security concerns along the Durand Line, hoping to resolve the matter with the Taliban leadership in Afghanistan.
“The fence was erected or installed in the previous years when cross-border terrorism was at its highest. One of the ways the Pakistan government could deal with this issue was to erect a fence,” he said.
Khan’s reservations raise questions over the Taliban leadership of the Islamic Emirate, as it does not agree to the presence of foreign terrorist groups on its soil. Afghan Taliban have also assured that Afghan soil would not be used against anyone.
It is pertinent to mention that the Taliban regime does not recognise the Durand Line, an issue that has escalated tensions between the two countries in the recent past, when Taliban fighters removed the fence, claiming that the Pakistani authorities had installed the fence on Afghanistan territory.
“Considering the current difficult condition, Afghanistan should have good political, economic and social relations with its neighbors, particularly Pakistan,” said Sayed Haroon Hashmi, a political analyst.
Pakistan has also raised the same concern at the UNSC, calling on the global body to hold accountable the masterminds who continue to support, finance and sponsor cross-border terrorist attacks.
It seems clear that all is not well between the Taliban leadership in Afghanistan and the Pakistani authorities, as the issue of Durand Line fencing, cross-border terrorism and presence of foreign terror groups on Afghan soil are reliving the memories of similar exchanges of accusations between the two countries during the previous Ashraf Ghani government in Afghanistan.
