ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said on Wednesday Prime Minister Imran Khan and the foreign ministry would decide on whether Islamabad would recognize a new Taliban government in Afghanistan, after a government collapse last week and the takeover of the capital by the insurgent group.
Rashid’s statement is a departure from earlier comments by Information Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain in which he said Islamabad would consult regional and international powers before making a decision on recognizing Taliban rule.
“Whether or not to accept the Taliban government or not, that is a decision of Imran Khan and the foreign ministry,” Ahmed said at a press conference.
The information minister had said earlier in the week a decision on recognizing the Taliban would come after “consultation of regional and international powers.”
“We don’t want to take a unilateral decision on that, we are in touch with our regional and international friends and we will decide accordingly,” Hussain said.
In separate comments, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the world was contacting Pakistan to help reach a settlement in Afghanistan and he would soon be visiting Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan and Iran in this regard.
“I will discuss the prevailing situation in Afghanistan with its neighboring countries and consult them for a peaceful and permanent solution to the Afghan issue, besides taking them into confidence,” Qureshi said. “We want a set-up [in Afghanistan] that should be acceptable to the world.”
Pakistani PM, foreign minister to decide on recognizing Taliban government — minister
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Pakistani PM, foreign minister to decide on recognizing Taliban government — minister
- Information minister had earlier said Islamabad would consult regional and international powers before making a decision
- Foreign Minister to soon visit Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan and Iran to consult on resolution of Afghan crisis
Pakistan police, security forces kill 12 militants in separate operations
- The operations were conducted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Karak, Balochistan’s Kalat districts
- The country is currently battling twin insurgencies in both provinces that border Afghanistan
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s police and security forces have gunned down 12 militants in separate operations in two western provinces that border Afghanistan, authorities said on Sunday.
Police launched an operation in a mountainous area of Karak district in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, following reports of militant presence, according to Karak police spokesman Shaukat Khan.
The operation resulted in the killing of at least eight militants, while several others were wounded in the exchange of fire with law enforcers. Karak police chief Saud Khan led the heavy police contingent alongside personnel from intelligence agencies.
“Several militant hideouts located in the mountainous terrain between Kohat and Karak districts were dismantled during the operation,” Khan told Arab News on Sunday evening, adding the operation was still ongoing.
Separately, security forces killed four “Indian-sponsored” separatist militants in an intelligence-based operation in Kalat district of the southwestern Balochistan province, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistani military’s media wing.
“Weapons, ammunition and explosives were also recovered from the terrorists, who remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities in the area,” the ISPR said in a statement.
“Sanitization operations are being conducted to eliminate any other Indian sponsored terrorist found in the area.”
Pakistan, which has been facing a surge in militancy, has long accused Afghanistan of allowing its soil and India of backing militant groups, including the TTP, for attacks against Pakistan. Kabul and New Delhi have consistently denied this.
