Top Afghanistan Diplomat Claims Pakistan Fueling Violence In Country By Supporting Taliban

In continued support of Pakistan to the Taliban, the Afghan envoy to Sri Lanka, M Ashraf Haidari, has blamed Pakistan for fueling violence in Afghanistan by supporting Taliban terrorists. He has further asked Foreign Minister of Pakistan Shah Mahmood Qureshi to inform about this update to Secretary-General of the UN Antonio Guterres and UN Secretary Antony Blinken.

Ashraf Haidari shared a post on Twitter and stated, “Taliban and their paramilitary advisers on the Pakistani side of Durand Line, waiting to be infiltrated into Afghanistan for reinforcing the shrinking Taliban force, perishing by 100s”.

While Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has denied the support of Pakistan to the Taliban and said, “This is absolute nonsense. Why don’t they give us evidence of this?”

He further stated that Pakistan hosts three million Aghan refugees of which the majority are Pashtuns, the same ethnic group as the Taliban fighters.

> Pakistan PM added, “Now, there are camps of 500,000 people, there are camps of 100,000 people. And Taliban are not some military outfits, they are normal civilians. And if there are some civilians in these camps, how is Pakistan supposed to hunt these people down? How can you call them sanctuaries?”

TTP terrorists in Afghanistan
According to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) report, nearly 6,000 of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) are functioning from the Afghan border as they have maintained ties with the Taliban despite growing distrust. The UN Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team further warned that the TTP has distinctive anti-Pakistan objectives, it also supports the Taliban militants inside Afghanistan against Afghan Forces.

Splinter groups of TTP
The TTP is believed to be residing near the border with Pakistan, in the eastern districts of Nangarhar Province. According to the UN report, from December 2019 to August 2020, a reconnection of TTP and certain splinter groups like Shehryar Mehsud group, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), and Hizb-ul-Ahrar took place while Al-Qaeda was reportedly involved in the moderation between these groups.

The report added, “The return of splinter groups to the TTP fold has increased its strength, of which current Member State estimates range between 2,500 and 6,000 armed fighters, with one Member State assessing that the upper range is more accurate”.

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