Taliban won't allow TTP militants to attack Pakistan, says Pakistani minister

Record ID: 1634222

  • Title: Taliban won't allow TTP militants to attack Pakistan, says Pakistani minister
  • Date: 30th August 2021
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Urdu) PAKISTAN'S INTERIOR MINISTER, SHEIKH RASHID AHMAD, SAYING: "The world should learn to respect us. We are sitting on a very vital post. If anyone thinks that they can carry on their activities in this region while bypassing us, they are sadly mistaken. Pakistan is a rock-solid state, and our armed forces, our people, our government and our Prime Minister Imran Khan are not only standing with the world and with peace, but we are also partners in the war against terrorism." AHMAD LEAVING NEWS CONFERENCE
  • Embargoed: 13th September 2021 17:49
  • Keywords: afghanistan attacks isis militants pakistani interior minister refugees taliban ttp
  • Location: ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN
  • City: ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Topics: Asia / Pacific,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA003ESGZKUF
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Pakistan's Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad said on Monday (August 30) that the Taliban have assured his government they won't allow Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants in Afghanistan to carry out attacks on Pakistan.
    The TTP, an Islamist militant umbrella organisation which renewed an allegiance to the Afghan Taliban after the fall of Kabul, has recently stepped up its campaign against the Pakistani army.
    "TTP may also be present in Kunar and in the mountains of Nuristan. But we have been given reassurance and we have full confidence in the Taliban government that their territory will not be used against Pakistan," Ahmad told a news conference in Islamabad.
    Militant fire from across the border in Afghanistan killed two Pakistani soldiers on Sunday (August 29), the army said, in the first such attack since the Taliban took over Kabul two weeks ago.
    The army said it retaliated and killed two or three attackers, a claim not verifiable because the tribal districts along the Afghan border are off limits to journalists and human rights organisations.
    The incident in Pakistan's Bajaur district was the first of its kind reported since the Taliban took over the Afghan capital on Aug. 15.
    The TTP claimed responsibility for the attack in a Telegram message shared with a Reuters journalist, and denied having suffered any losses in the retaliatory fire.
    Islamabad accuses the TTP of having used Afghanistan as a base from where to carry a suicide attack in northern Pakistan in July that killed nine Chinese workers and four Pakistanis.
    The Afghan Taliban's spokesman Zabihullah Muhaid said in his maiden news conference that the Islamist militants wouldn't allow any group to use Afghan soil against anyone.
    Asked about media reports that Pakistan had given refuge to thousands of Afghans fleeing their country after the takeover by the Taliban, Ahmad said they were not true.
    He said Pakistan had offered on-arrival visas for 21 days to transit passengers who landed in Islamabad from Afghanistan, and had to wait for their onward flights.
    (Production: Salah Uddin, Sheree Sardar)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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