IN a positive development, Pakistan Foreign Office on Friday revealed that Afghan Taliban Government have given “certain assurances” to neutralise the threat of banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) following Islamabad’s latest demands seeking decisive action against the terrorist sanctuaries. FO Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch told reporters at the weekly news briefing that Pakistan now likes to see effective action against these groups and substantial results on the ground with respect to any action that has been or is being taken against these terror outfits.
The stubborn attitude of the authorities in Kabul with regard to the just and genuine demands of Pakistan to take effective action against terrorist groups operating from Afghan soil was at the heart of the ongoing tension between the two countries. Such a scenario should not have emerged given the fact that Pakistan went out of the way to defend the Afghan cause during height of the crisis and it was also because of the facilitation by Pakistan that the Qatar Accord was reached between the Taliban and the United States, paving the way for withdrawal of foreign occupation forces from the neighbouring country. Pakistan was not asking anything extraordinary from the Taliban Government as, on its part, Islamabad launched effective and verifiable operations against all sorts of terrorist outfits for the sake of regional peace. Pakistani forces successfully neutralized the threat of terrorism but remnants on the Afghan soil are posing the last hurdle to prospects of regional cooperation, peace and security. It is also in the interest of the Taliban to neutralize this threat as restoration of peace and normalcy would encourage and accelerate the process of regional connectivity, trade and investment benefiting the war-torn Afghanistan. In this backdrop, the revelations of the FO spokesperson that Pakistan has been given certain assurances and now the country was waiting for concrete action in fulfilment of the pledges made augurs well not only for improvement in the bilateral relations but also for regional cooperation. Hopefully, the Kabul Government would shun the tendency of viewing TTP terrorists as its assets and initiate a firm action against them or hand them over to Pakistan.
