A statement made by Taliban government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid, stating that the Afghan rulers signed the Doha deal with USA and not Pakistan, has proved worrisome for Islamabad.
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Farhatullah Baba expressed concern, while
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, a stalwart of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), also agreed with the concerns of the PPP leader.
In an interview with BBC Pashto, the Taliban spokesperson had stressed that they didn’t sign a peace accord with Islamabad. However, he also mentioned that Afghan soil was not being used for terrorism in Pakistan, as the nation was “a Muslim and brother country”.
“Taliban signed the Doha agreement with the US, not with Pakistan and its policy towards Pakistan is different.”
Last week, in an unusual statement, Pakistan Army said that it is also very concerned that militants of the banned terrorist organisation Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have found safe havens in Afghanistan. “It is expected that interim Afghan Government would not allow the use of its soil to perpetrate terror against any country, in the real sense and in line with commitments made in Doha Agreement,” the statement said.
Pakistan Army also said that terrorist attacks in Pakistan are intolerable and the country’s security forces have the ability to give effective response to these attacks.
Farhatullah Babar raised the question that, “Does it mean the Doha agreement binds the Taliban to rein in only some militants, not all?”
Khawaja Asif meanwhile said that irrespective of Afghanistan stance, Pakistan will wipe out terrorism from the country.
