Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday that it had summoned the Taliban’s charge d’affaires in Islamabad to protest last week’s militant attack in Karachi, saying Afghan nationals were involved and that the Taliban have allowed Afghanistan’s territory to be used for attacks inside Pakistan.
In a statement, Foreign Ministry spokesman Tahir Andrabi said Pakistan had delivered a “strong demarche” to the Taliban diplomat over the Karachi attack. He said Pakistan’s ambassador in Kabul, Ubaid-ur-Rehman Nizamani, also conveyed the same protest to the Taliban’s Foreign Ministry.
The ministry said the diplomatic protests were issued because Afghan nationals, including one suspect who was captured alive, had participated in the attack.
“The fact that Afghan nationals, including one apprehended alive, participated in this attack proves yet again that Afghan soil and Afghan nationals continue to be used to orchestrate terrorist attacks inside Pakistan,” the statement said.
The statement came hours after the Taliban’s Foreign Ministry said it had summoned Pakistan’s charge d’affaires in Kabul to protest Pakistani airstrikes in Kunar, Paktia and Paktika provinces.
Taliban say the strikes killed 36 civilians, including women and children, and wounded 163 others. Pakistan says the airstrikes killed 25 members of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar.
Pakistan has repeatedly said that the Taliban have allowed TTP fighters to operate from Afghanistan’s territory, an allegation the Taliban deny.
Relations between Islamabad and the Taliban have deteriorated sharply in recent years over cross-border militancy, border disputes and competing accusations of harboring armed groups.
The latest exchange follows Pakistan’s second cross-border airstrikes inside Afghanistan this month in which, according to UN, 13 civilians were killed.
