Afghanistan Peace CampaignHamdullah Fitrat, the Deputy Spokesman of the Islamic Emirate, stated that the Islamic Emirate has made no such request of Pakistan.
The Islamic Emirate has called the claims made by Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif regarding a request for money from Pakistan regrettable.
Hamdullah Fitrat, the Deputy Spokesman of the Islamic Emirate, stated that the Islamic Emirate has made no such request of Pakistan.
In response to these allegations, Fitrat added: “We reject this claim. The Islamic Emirate has not made such a request to Pakistan. It is regrettable that senior officials of Pakistan, for reasons unknown to us, have made such claims.”
Pakistan’s Defense Minister, in an interview with Geo News, claimed that the Islamic Emirate had requested 10 billion Pakistani rupees to remove the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) from the areas near the Durand Line.
Khawaja Asif told the Pakistani media: “In a meeting attended by Mullah Yaqoob, acting Defense Minister of Afghanistan, Sirajuddin Haqqani, acting Interior Minister, and Amir Khan Muttaqi, acting Foreign Minister, we discussed the TTP and urged them to stop TTP’s attacks in Pakistan. Otherwise, we will be forced to act. Mullah Yaqoob, in response, asked for billions of rupees for the relocation of TTP members to western regions of Afghanistan but remained silent when we questioned whether there was a guarantee that they wouldn’t resume their activities from there.”
Meanwhile, The New York Times reported that Pakistan’s recent airstrikes on Afghanistan have strained relations between the two sides.
The New York Times report reads: “Once-close ties between Pakistan’s leaders and the Afghan Taliban have frayed, and violent cross-border exchanges have become alarmingly frequent.”
“I hope neighboring countries, including Pakistan, Tajikistan, and the Iranian authorities, have realized that a politically and economically stable Afghanistan can play a better role in ensuring global security,” Zalmai Afghanyar, a political analyst, told TOLOnews.
Earlier, Pakistan accused the Islamic Emirate of harboring and supporting the TTP and being involved in Pakistan’s insecurity—allegations that Kabul has consistently denied. In response to Pakistani officials, the Islamic Emirate has maintained that security issues in Pakistan are the responsibility of its government, not the Islamic Emirate.