report in the Khaama Press online, Dec 15, 2023
Zalmay Khalilzad, the former U.S. representative for Afghanistan peace, says that relations between Kabul and Islamabad are critical.
On Friday, Khalilzad mentioned in a post on his social media platform X that while Pakistan accuses the Taliban of supporting the Pakistani Taliban (TTP), the Taliban administration, rejecting these claims, accuses Islamabad of supporting ISIS Khorasan.
Khalilzad added that Pakistan also denies the claims of the Taliban administration.
The former U.S. representative for Afghan peace also said that Pakistan has expelled thousands of Afghan migrants under ‘coercive diplomacy’ from its territory.
It is worth mentioning that Islamabad has repeatedly claimed that terrorists have launched attacks in various parts of Pakistan using Afghan soil and has called on the Taliban to combat the perpetrators of these attacks.
In the latest instance, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the interim government of Pakistan has demanded Kabul to extradite the perpetrators of the recent attack in Dera Ismail Khan in this country.
Mumtaz Zahra Baluch, spokesperson for the Ministry, stated that ‘Afghanistan must take serious action against the perpetrators of this heinous attack and hand them over to Pakistan, along with the leadership of the Pakistani Taliban in Afghanistan.
The spokesperson for the Pakistani Foreign Ministry added that Islamabad expects Afghanistan to ‘prevent the use of Afghan soil by terrorist organizations against Pakistan.’
This comes while the Taliban has always emphasized that Afghan soil will not be used against any country, including Pakistan.
https://www.khaama.com/khalilzad-tensions-high-between-kabul-and-islamabad/
