KABUL: Afghanistan’s Taliban administration has claimed that it has captured 200 suspected militants for staging deadly cross-border attacks against Pakistan and has implemented other “concrete steps” to defuse the terrorist activity, VOA reported citing Pakistani officials privy to the process.
The Taliban administration shared the details about the recent crackdown on the outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), in bilateral talks held last week in Kabul with a high-level delegation from Islamabad.
The talks came two weeks after hundreds of heavily armed militants assaulted two Pakistani security posts in Kalash Valley in the northern border district of Chitral on September 6. Four soldiers and 12 assailants were killed whereas the TTP claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Taliban “captured 200 TTP militants returning from the Chitral attack, who are now behind bars,” said an official who spoke on condition of anonymity adding that the de facto Afghan authorities were in the process of relocating other TTP militants away from the border with Pakistan.
The official who was not allowed to public his identity further said that Pakistan’s government had to wait and see the outcome of these steps before drawing any conclusions. The Taliban did not immediately react to the reported crackdown against TTP.
Earlier on Monday, the Taliban’s chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid reiterated that the Afghan government would not allow anyone to use Afghan soil against Pakistan. “This is our stated policy. This is central to the national interest of Afghanistan in promoting peace and reconciliation, the spokesman said in comments aired by Taliban-run state television.
“We could only assist Pakistan with its internal security issues as per our capacity. Pakistanis also understand our limitations as we could not help them at borders which is their responsibility,” he said.
Pakistan, Afghanistan Talks
Earlier Pakistan’s special representative on Afghanistan, Asif Durrani, led the delegation to Kabul, who was accompanied by senior officials while having a promising and extensive discussions with Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and his team.
Pakistan, the United States, and the United Nations have already declared TTP as a global terrorist organization.
TTP emerged in Pakistan’s border areas in 2007, pledging adherence to the leadership of the Afghan Taliban and supporting them in mounting insurgent attacks on U.S.-led NATO troops in Afghanistan until the foreign forces moved out in August 2021 after remaining in the country for nearly two decades.
Meanwhile, Afghan Taliban’s supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada has forbidden his forces from launching cross-border attacks against Pakistan, calling them haram or un-Islamic.
He also ordered Afghans not to collaborate with or give donations to the TTP for its so-called jihad against Pakistan and barred the militants from running donation collection campaigns in Afghanistan, Pakistani officials while referring to the recent discussions in Kabul told VOA.
Pakistani officials said following the TTP attack in Chitral that a number of Afghan fighters had also participated in it, whereas the evidence was shared with Kabul authorities to take action against them. An internal TTP communication later emerged on social media, warning its fighters against recruiting Afghans into their ranks, adding that the group had come under pressure from the Taliban government.
The officials further said that as per their information, the Taliban were “consciously distancing” themselves from groups aligned with them during the insurgency, however now these groups were involved in criminal activities in Afghanistan including extortion, kidnapping for ransom, and terrorism.
They remarked that Taliban leaders believe, now they have a greater responsibility to address such issues as they were ruling the country and must convince the world community about having a responsible stance that could help them recognition for their government.
