Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif urged the Taliban on Friday to prevent militant groups from using Afghanistan’s territory to launch attacks, saying the Taliban had failed to curb cross-border militancy despite repeated appeals from Islamabad.
Speaking at a workshop in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, Sharif said Afghanistan and Pakistan must coexist peacefully but that the Taliban needed to act against militant groups operating from Afghan soil.
“We have repeatedly conveyed this message to the authorities there,” Sharif said. “If they want peace in the region, they must restrain terrorist groups and not allow Afghan territory to be used for terrorist activities.”
Sharif said militant groups continued to use Afghanistan as a base, adding that it remained unclear why the Taliban had been unable to stop them.
The comments came a day after a suicide car bombing claimed by the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) targeted a security checkpoint in Balochistan, killing 15 people, including 12 Pakistani soldiers, according to Pakistan’s military.
The attack followed renewed accusations by Pakistani officials that the Taliban are providing sanctuary to the TTP and other militant groups. Speaking at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization foreign ministers’ meeting in Kyrgyzstan on Friday, Pakistan’s foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, accused the Taliban of allowing several militant organizations to recruit, train and carry out attacks from Afghanistan.
Taliban have repeatedly denied those allegations.
In remarks broadcast by Afghanistan’s state-run television, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the Taliban would not allow Afghan territory to be used against any country and urged governments with security concerns to raise them through official channels.
“Afghanistan’s policy and principle is not to allow foreign militant groups to operate in the country or permit Afghan territory to be used against another nation,” Mujahid said.
Pakistan has repeatedly accused the Taliban of failing to prevent cross-border attacks by the TTP, while the Taliban reject those claims and maintain that Afghanistan poses no threat to neighboring countries.
