Taliban will not allow militant outfit Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to use Afghanistan's land in any activity against Pakistan, a worried Islamabad assured its countrymen once again today.
Addressing a press conference on Monday, Sheikh Rashid, the Interior Minister of Pakistan, said that the Imran Khan government was in "full contact" with the Taliban after the release of Maulvi Faqir Mohammad, the former TTP deputy chief.
"The related authorities there have been told that those who have done terrorism in Pakistan [are controlled]. The Afghan Taliban have reassured [us] that Afghanistan's land will not be allowed to be used in any case by the TTP," Rashid was quoted as saying by the Dawn.
As reported by the India Narrative, the Pakistani security agencies are a worried lot after the TTP terrorists were freed from the Afghan prisons. Even as an emboldened and resurgent TTP poses a huge threat to Pakistan, Islamabad is praying that things don't turn for worse.
"Previously, Pakistan was supporting the US due to which the TTP and the Taliban were on the same page. That is not the case now," Rashid had told Geo TV last week.
A United Nations Security Council report had recently exposed that despite growing distrust, TTP and the Taliban carry on with relations mainly as before. It said that a reunification took place in Afghanistan between TTP and certain splinter groups in the period from December 2019 to August 2020. This included the Shehryar Mehsud group, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), Hizb-ul-Ahrar, the Amjad Farooqi group and the Usman Saifullah group (formerly known as Lashkar-e Jhangvi). AlQaida was reportedly involved in the moderation between the groups.
"The return of splinter groups to the TTP fold has increased its strength, of which current Member State estimates range between 2,500 and 6,000 armed fighters, with one Member State assessing that the upper range is more accurate," the report mentioned saying that the TTP has distinctive anti-Pakistan objectives is traditionally located in the eastern districts of Nangarhar Province, near the border with Pakistan.
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