Farooq Naeem—AFP
Defense Minister Khawaja Asif on Sunday made it clear that Pakistan is ready to uproot terrorism from its soil, regardless of the source, after a spokesman for the Afghan Taliban said the group had not signed any peace accord with its neighboring nation.
Last week, the defense minister lamented that Kabul was not fulfilling its obligations under the Doha Agreement, i.e. ensuring its soil is not used for terrorism against any other state, in light of the alleged safe havens enjoyed by the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Afghanistan. Similarly, the Pakistan Army expressed serious concerns over militants finding safe havens in Afghanistan, and vowed an “effective response” if such a situation persisted.
Responding to these remarks, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told BBC Pashto that Afghanistan’s rulers had not signed any peace accord with Islamabad, as their agreement was with the U.S. However, he added, Afghan soil was not being used for attacks on Pakistan, as the nation was “a Muslim and brother country.”
Senior Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Farhatullah Babar reacted to these comments by questioning whether the Doha Agreement only bound the Taliban to rein in “some militants” but not all. Responding to him on Twitter, Asif said this was a “fair interpretation” of Kabul’s statement. “Irrespective of Afghanistan’s stance, Pakistan stands resolute in uprooting terrorism from its soil, whatever the source,” he stressed. “This is regardless of whether or not Kabul has the will to rein in militants from within its borders,” he added.
There is growing concern within Pakistan over a resurgence of terrorism nationwide, but particularly in border regions with Afghanistan of Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, since the TTP unilaterally ended a ceasefire it had inked with the government. Security forces and the civilian leadership alike have blamed the presence of safe havens for the militants in neighboring Afghanistan and repeatedly urged Kabul to prevent this, to little avail.