PESHAWAR: A spokesperson for the Afghan Taliban government has confirmed an invitation to Pakistani pro-Taliban cleric and politician Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman to visit Kabul as a mediator between the two governments and people, as relations have soured over rising attacks in Pakistan.
Pakistan has protested to the Afghan government over a number of recent attacks including one in which 23 soldiers were killed in an assault on a military base last week, demanding action against the perpetrators as Islamabad grapples with security challenges ahead of elections on Feb. 8.
Ties between Islamabad and Kabul have plunged in recent months to their lowest in years.
In October, Pakistan ordered the expulsion of all Afghan nationals staying in the country without legal documents, holding them responsible for 14 of this year’s 24 suicide bombings.
Pakistan says militants, particularly from the Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), use safe havens in Afghanistan to train for and carry out attacks such as the one last week. Kabul denies the charge, saying Pakistan’s security is a domestic issue.
In a brief audio message released on Monday, Afghan Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed Kabul had officially invited Rehman, the chief of the religious political Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-F party, to brief him on the “aspirations” of the Afghan people and government toward the leaders of Pakistan and its people.
“He [Rehman] will let the Pakistani people know that we [Afghans] never want any unrest in Pakistan, [that] our relations sour or any action against Pakistan, we don’t want these at all,” Mujahid said. “And Maulana Fazlur Rehman can play this role [of conveying the message] very well.”
The Afghan Taliban’s statement comes two days after their envoy to Pakistan, Sardar Ahmad Jan Shakib, met the JUI-F chief in Islamabad to formally extend the invitation, according to media.
On Monday, Pakistan called on Afghanistan to ‘handover’ militants belonging to the TTP a day after Kabul said it had arrested up to 40 TTP fighters in the last year.
Though the Afghan Taliban-led government has always denied it allows Afghan soil to be used against any other country, in a rare admission, a spokesperson for the Afghan ministry of interior, Abdul Mateen Qani, said last week 35-40 TTP militants were currently under arrest in Afghanistan.
“We demand from the Afghan government to hand over all the detained TTP terrorists to Pakistani authorities and take action against their sanctuaries inside Afghanistan,” Balochistan information minister Jan Achakzai said at a press conference.
“Pakistan was witnessing attacks during the presence of the US Army in Afghanistan, but since Taliban came to power, the number of attacks in Pakistan have increased with more intensity.”
