https://arab.news/9yxst
- A day prior, Pakistan's PM had said militants attacking country were being helped by ‘Afghan citizens’ across border
- Last week, 63 people were killed and 123 injured after a suicide blast ripped through a political rally in northwest Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: Afghan Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid on Thursday rejected Pakistan's accusations of militants using Afghan soil to launch attacks against it, dismissing them as "baseless allegations."
Mujahid's statements come a day after Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said militants behind a spate of suicide attacks in Pakistan, including a blast that killed at least 63 people and injured 123 in northwestern Pakistan on Sunday, were being helped by "Afghan citizens" across the border.
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had expressed similar concerns, warning Kabul that Pakistan could act in “self-defense” against militants in Afghanistan if authorities there failed to take action against banned outfits operating from Afghan soil.
“We refuse Pakistani officials’ allegations about the security situation in Afghanistan, and we call them baseless,” Mujahid wrote on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
“The Islamic Emirate does not allow anyone to use the territory of Afghanistan against another country.”
The Taliban’s spokesperson added that if Pakistani officials had concerns about militants using Afghan soil to attack Pakistan, they should address the issue with the administration in Kabul “face to face."
He urged Pakistani officials to avoid making “unnecessary claims” on media that create confusion among the masses.
“Obviously, such claims are not in the interest of both countries and [their] people,” he said.
Militants, especially those belonging to the Pakistani Taliban or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), have stepped up attacks across Pakistan since revoking a fragile ceasefire agreement with the government in late 2022.
One of the most lethal attacks this year included a suicide bombing that targeted a mosque in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing more than 100 people and wounding scores of others.
Though a separate entity, the TPP is allied with the Afghan Taliban and has reorganized itself since the latter came to power in 2021 after the US withdrawal from the Central Asian state.
The Taliban government insists TTP militants are not operating from Afghanistan but are rather present in Pakistan's tribal areas.