KABUL, Feb 5: The Afghan Taliban has rejected claims that it has been granting any kind of aid to foreign militant and terror groups who are operating in Afghanistan, instead alleging that fighters from the Islamic State have established bases in neighbouring countries, in a veiled reference against Pakistan.
Taliban spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, responding to concerns voiced in the United Nations Security Council by several countries about alleged militant activity emanating from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, said that Afghanistan is secure and that “no foreign or rogue groups exist” in the Islamic Emirate.
Claiming that the Islamic State (ISIS) had been defeated in Afghanistan, he added that the Islamic terror group had “unfortunately established bases in our neighbouring countries.”
Terming the security concerns raised by countries “unfounded”, Mujahid said that these concerns stemmed due to the absence of Taliban representation in the UN.
While he did not name any of the neighbouring countries where as per him, the Islamic State Khorasan had allegedly taken refuge, Taliban officials have more than once accused Pakistan of harbouring, aiding, training, and financing operatives of the Islamic State.
At the UNSC session on Wednesday, Alexandre Zouev, a senior UN official, warned that IS-KP in the Islamic Emirate continued to pose a serious threat to security in both the region and beyond, contrasting the Taliban’s repeated claims assertion that it has defeated it within the country.
Mike Waltz, the US ambassador to the UN, said the Islamic State threat in Afghanistan is a persistent one that urgently requires coordinated international action, adding that the threat is expanding beyond Afghanistan to parts of West, and South Asia, and even moving to parts of Africa.
Pakistan’s representative, Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, reiterating its claims accusing Taliban of aiding and abetting terror groups, said that since the Islamist group returned to power in Kabul, militant outfits such as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and Baloch separatists have gained renewed strength.
He accused Kabul of giving safe haven to these groups and operational freedom within Afghan territory, which they used to conduct various attacks against Pakistan.
Ahmad, repeating Islamabad’s narrative said that Pakistan has been one of the frontline states in the fight against terrorism, and has endured many losses, which include suffering more than 90,000 casualties and sustained infrastructure and overall economic destruction.
China’s representative also expressed concern about the presence and activities of terror groups such as Al-Qaida, Islamic State and Uyghur militants in Afghanistan, and urged the Taliban to take action.
Referring to an ISIS attack on a Chinese restaurant in Kabul’s Shahr-e-Naw district, China’s envoy said militant activity on Afghan soil was surging in the Islamic Emirate, and must be treated seriously. (UNI)
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