ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will not negotiate with "elements" involved in killing security forces personnel and civilians, the foreign office spokesperson said on Thursday, dismissing media reports that claimed a Pakistani diplomat's visit to Kabul last week was part of negotiations with the Pakistani Taliban.
Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch's comments follow last week's visit to Kabul by Pakistan’s special representative to Afghanistan, Asif Durrani. During his three-day trip, Durrani discussed issues of mutual concern with Afghan Taliban authorities, including a rise in militant attacks across Pakistan, the foreign office said.
Relations between Islamabad and Kabul have remained strained ever since militant attacks in Pakistan increased following the Afghan Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021. Pakistan blames the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) who is a separate entity from the Afghan Taliban but has pledged allegiance to the group.
“Our position on the matter is very clear, we have said it before too, and our special representative to Afghanistan had also conveyed the same message that Pakistan cannot hold dialogue with elements that do not accept the constitution of Pakistan," Baloch told Independent Urdu.
"Or those whose hands have been stained with the blood of our civilians and security personnel.”
Attacks have particularly increased after a fragile truce between the TTP and the state broke down in November 2022. Pakistan has called on the Afghan Taliban to take action against the TTP, alleging that the banned outfit operates from Afghanistan.
Afghan government spokesperson Suhail Shaheen told Arab News earlier this month that the Pakistani Taliban were not present in Afghanistan. Rather, he said TTP militants are present in Pakistan's tribal areas and hence, Islamabad's "responsibility."
Following a meeting with Durrani last week, Afghan foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said his countrymen would “never harm anyone” and that the Taliban administration will “allow none to use our soil against another country.”
Last week, two TTP militants carried out a suicide attack on a compound housing a police station and government houses in northwestern Pakistan, killing four and injuring 10 others, hours after the faction claimed responsibility for killing two policemen in an overnight gun attack in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
