ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said on Thursday the interim Afghan government had influence over the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its cooperation with Islamabad was vital to Pakistan’s security amid a surge in militant attacks in the South Asian country.
The TTP, or the Pakistani Taliban, has waged an insurgency in Pakistan over the past 15 years, fighting for stricter enforcement of Islamic laws in the country, the release of their members in government custody and a reduction in the Pakistani military’s presence in the country’s tribal districts that border Afghanistan.
In November, the militant group said it would no longer abide by a months-long cease-fire, brokered by the Afghan Taliban in May, with the Pakistani government and has since ramped up attacks against Pakistani security forces and police.
Bhutto-Zardari said his country’s leadership was “absolutely clear” that there would be no talks with militant groups that did not respect Pakistan’s law.
“The new leadership in Pakistan, both political and military, has been absolutely clear. There will be no talks with terrorist organizations that don’t respect our laws and constitution,” the foreign minister told the Washington Post.
“I am confident that if we can work with the Afghan interim government, which has influence over these groups, we will be successful in maintaining our security.”
The development came as the TTP claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack on a police post in northwest Pakistan that killed three police officers. Thursday’s attack was one of several assaults claimed by the outlawed group since it unilaterally decided to end the cease-fire.
In December, 33 TTP fighters detained at a counter-terrorism facility in Bannu seized the compound and took staff hostage. The Pakistani army’s response killed 25 militants.
Pakistan’s military has launched periodic offensives in regions along the Afghan border that have served as safe havens for the militants, however, the militants appeared to have regrouped in recent months.
Bhutto-Zardari said the whole world was concerned about the potential use of Afghan soil by militant groups and both Pakistan and the United States had their interests “aligned” in this regard.
“There is a whole alphabet soup of terrorist groups. Pakistan and America’s interests vis-à-vis such terrorist groups are aligned. America has withdrawn from Afghanistan,” he said.
“Now we have to focus on the reality, which is that everyone in the region and around the world is concerned about the potential use of Afghan soil for terrorist activities.”
Asked if he was worried that Washington was disengaging from the region, the foreign minister admitted that President Joe Biden never spoke with former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan, but hoped for bilateral consultations between the Biden administration and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
“We are hoping going forward for more US engagement with our prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif,” the foreign minister said.
