Guwahati: The Taliban on Tuesday urged Pakistan to quit interfering in Afghanistan’s domestic affairs in response to comments made by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly asserting the existence of terrorist groups in Afghanistan.
According to Tolo News, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, the deputy foreign minister for political affairs for the Taliban, urged Pakistan to refrain from meddling in Afghan internal affairs. Stanekzai asserted that the Islamic Emirate rejects and denounces the allegations and that it will not tolerate anyone else making such remarks about Afghanistan.
“We strongly condemned the Pakistan Prime Minister’s action. We don’t allow anyone to speak against the Islamic Emirate … If Pakistan has an economic problem and is placed on a blacklist of the International Monetary Fund, no one takes their call to give them money. If you (Pakistan) are not given a loan, it is your problem–find your way through any way you can, but don’t talk about the dignity of the people of Afghanistan and don’t defame Afghanistan just to earn some money,” he said.
Notably, Pakistan’s Prime Minister raised concern over the threat of terrorism emanating from Afghanistan.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that “Pakistan shares the key concern of the international community regarding the threat posed by the major terrorist groups operating from Afghanistan especially Islamic State-Khorasan (ISIS-K) and Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), as well as Al-Qaeda, East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) and Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU),” reported Tolo News.
The Islamic Emirate and former Afghan President Hamid Karzai also responded to Sharif’s remarks. According to Tolo News, Karzai said in a statement that Afghanistan had been a victim of terrorism and that terrorist safe havens had operated in the nation when the Pakistani government was in power.
The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, meanwhile, claimed that the accusations were unfounded.
“Pakistan had a vital role in Afghanistan’s war and peace over the past 40 years. We must say that it had a role due to the lack of good management by our politicians sometimes. Pakistan takes advantage of the vacuum,” said Torek Farhadi, a political analyst.