US joins Pakistan in urging Taliban to prevent Afghanistan from becoming ‘safe haven’ for terrorists

Amid Islamabad’s calls for Afghanistan to rein in militants responsible for escalating militancy within Pakistan, the United States on Tuesday also asked the Afghan Taliban to prevent their country from becoming a “safe haven” for terrorist attacks.

The statement from US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller comes a day after Pakistan Army blamed Kabul for the uptick in militancy, saying that “safe havens and liberty of action”, along with the latest weapons available to militants from Afghan­istan enabled them to carry out attacks inside Pakistan.

Islamabad has repeatedly raised concerns over the use of Afghan soil by militants for cross-border terror­­ism. In a recent statement, the military said it expected the government in Afghanistan to take action against militants and abide by the Doha agreement.

“The sanctuaries and liberty of action available to the terrorists of proscribed TTP and other groups of that ilk in a neighbouring country and availability of latest weapons to the terrorists were noted as major reasons impacting [the] security of Pakistan,” a statement issued by the ISPR after the Corps Commander Conference on Monday said.

The conference said the banned TTP continued to enjoy safe havens and managed to get its hands on sophisticated weapons, as it operates freely in Afghanistan.

A Dawn report quoted military sources as saying the inability of the Afghan Taliban to restrain the TTP was the main reason for the latest wave of unrest in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The sources also pointed out that militants involved in the recent attacks in Balochistan were using M-16 rifles and sporting uniforms commonly used by the US military.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had on Saturday also strongly rebuked Afghanistan for “neglecting its duties as a neighbouring and fraternal country”, and for disregarding vital obligations made in the Doha peace agreement, specifically its commitment to prevent the use of Afghan soil for terrorist activities.

At a press briefing on Monday, the US State Department spokesperson restated the position that the Taliban administration bore the responsibility to control terror activities originating from their territory.

“I don’t have any comment specifically on that, but I will say we have made very clear that we believe the Taliban has the responsibility to prevent the — Afghanistan from being used as a safe haven for launching terrorist attacks,” Millar said in response to a question.

Pakistan has witnessed an increase in terrorist activities, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, following the termination of the ceasefire between the government and the banned TTP in November of the previous year.