Afghan Taliban must rein in militants for ceasefire to hold: Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s ceasefire agreement with the Afghan Taliban hinges on their ability to rein in militant attacks on Islamabad from their soil, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif told Reuters on Monday.

A Taliban spokesperson and its defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

“Anything coming from Afghanistan will be (a) violation of this agreement,” Khawaja Asif said in his office at Pakistan’s parliament in Islamabad. “Everything hinges on this one clause.”

In the agreement signed by Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkiye and Qatar, it was clearly spelled out that there would not be any incursions, the minister said.

Read more: Afghan nationals without visas to be sent home immediately

“We have a ceasefire agreement as long as there is no violation of the agreement which is already in force.”

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the umbrella of several Islamist militant groups, operates out of Afghanistan to attack Pakistan “in connivance” with the Taliban, the defence minister said.

Read more: TTP is Afghanistan’s proxy and Afghanistan of India: Khawaja Asif

KABUL IS NOT A ‘NO-GO AREA’

Pakistan carried out airstrikes on the Afghan capital Kabul, including one on October 9 in an attempt to kill Pakistani Taliban leader Noor Wali Mehsud, Pakistan security officials have said, though he later appeared in a video showing he was alive.

“We were being attacked. Our territory was being attacked. So we just did tit for tat. We were paying them in the same coin,” Asif said.

“They are in Kabul. They are everywhere. Wherever they are we will attack them. Kabul is not, you know, a no-go area.”

‘CONCRETE AND VERIFIABLE MONITORING MECHANISM’

Earlier on Sunday, Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, welcoming the ceasefire agreement inked in Qatar, stressed the need for “monitoring mechanism” with an aim “to address the menace of terrorism emanating from Afghan soil towards Pakistan”.

Read more: Dar awaits mechanism to tackle terrorism emanating from Afghanistan

“We look forward to the establishment of a concrete and verifiable monitoring mechanism, in the next meeting to be hosted by Turkiye, to address the menace of terrorism emanating from Afghan soil towards Pakistan.”

NOT ‘YOUR BUSINESS’ INTERESTS

And on Sunday, Khawaja Asif appreciated the fact that the PTI had welcomed the ceasefire agreement inked by Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban but said that they also should condemn terrorism.

Read more: Don’t evaluate Pak-Afghan ties on basis of business: Khawaja Asif

“The PTI leaders are welcoming the Doha [Qatar] agreement, [which] is a good thing,” the defence minister and requested that the Pak-Afghan relations should not be evaluated “only in the context of your business [interests]”.

“May Allah grant them the ability to condemn terrorism as well,” he remarked in a post shared on X.