Islamabad: The latest UN report has vindicated Pakistan’s longstanding position on threats posed to Pakistan and the region by various terrorist groups in Afghanistan, the Foreign Office said.
Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said in a statement that the UN report “vindicates Pakistan’s longstanding position on threats posed to Pakistan and the region by groups like the TTP, Jamaatul Ahrar (JuA), Hizbul Ahrar (HuA) and their affiliates, based in Afghanistan”.
Pakistan has also drawn the attention of the international community to the support provided to the TTP and its affiliates by the hostile intelligence agencies, he emphasized, adding that such support led to the merger of JuA, HuA and other splinter groups of LeJ (Lashkar-e-Jhangvi) with the TTP in Afghanistan last year.
Pakistan has also informed the global community about the multiple cross-border attacks carried out by the TTP on Pakistani security forces deployed on the border.
Dedicated effort
“Pakistan acknowledges monitoring team’s efforts in exposing the hostile agencies’ sponsored collusion of anti-Pakistan elements in Afghanistan,” the FO spokesman said, adding that Islamabad now expected Kabul and NATO-led mission Resolute Support Mission (RSM) to launch a “dedicated effort to neutralise this threat emanating from Afghanistan.”
“Pakistan stands firm in its resolve to partner with international community against the menace of terrorism,” the official said.
The 27th Report of the UN Analytical and Monitoring Team, dated February 3, recognizes Pakistan’s efforts to eradicate terrorist groups active in the Pak-Afghan region.
It notes that Pakistan has not only arrested “individuals engaging in terrorism financing” but also has seized and frozen the assets of those “individuals and entities” who have been designated as terrorist by related US and UN agencies.
The UN report expresses concern over the “reunification of [TTP’s] splinter groups” inside Afghanistan and the terror threat posed to Pakistan, and the entire region.”
The report noted that five entities pledged allegiance to TTP in July and August 2020, including the “Shehryar Mehsud group, Jamaatul Ahrar (JuA), Hizbul Ahrar, Amjad Farooqi group and the Usman Saifullah group (formerly known as Lashkar-e- Jhangvi).”
Cross-border attacks
The UN report said that the increased strength of TTP, which is estimated to range from 2,500 to 6,000 members, has “resulted in a sharp increase in attacks”.
TTP was responsible for more than 100 cross-border attacks between July and October 2020, the report stated.
Another official report for the US Congress also indicated the presence of TTP and other terror groups in Afghanistan.
The January 2021 Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) report mentions Afghan officials’ judgments that “other terrorist groups including Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, Jaish-i-Mohammed, and Lashkar-e-Tayyiba are operating in eastern Afghanistan.”
