Global Voice
The Pakistani Foreign Ministry confirmed recently that it was conducting an anti-terrorist operation in the border regions inside Afghanistan and has called on “certain elements” of the Afghan leadership to reassess the policy of “patronising” terrorist elements.
Earlier in the day, Zabihullah Mujahid, chief spokesperson for the Taliban-controlled (under UN sanctions for extremism) Afghan government, said Pakistani warplanes had bombed the Paktika and Khost provinces bordering Pakistan overnight, in what appears to be a retaliatory move that followed the killing of seven Pakistani soldiers in a bomb-and-gun assault launched on Saturday in the northwestern Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“Pakistan carried out intelligence-based anti-terrorist operations in the border regions inside Afghanistan. The prime target of today’s operation was the terrorists belonging to Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group, which along with Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), is responsible for multiple terrorist attacks inside Pakistan,” the ministry said in a statement.
Pakistan has repeatedly over the past two years conveyed its concerns over the presence of terrorist groups in Afghan territory and urged the local authorities to take action in order for the territory not to become a “staging ground for terrorism against Pakistan,” the statement read.
“Certain elements among those in power in Afghanistan are actively patronising TTP and using them as a proxy against Pakistan. Such an approach against a brotherly country, which stood with the people of Afghanistan through thick and thin, manifests shortsightedness … We urge these elements in power to rethink the policy,” the statement added.
Pakistan will continue to seek joint solutions to countering terrorism and to prevent any terrorist formation from upending bilateral relations with Afghanistan, the statement said.
