Pakistan is using the Taliban as a “tool” for its dominance in Afghanistan under the pretext of strategic depth, said former Pakistani senator Afrasiab Khattak, adding that the terror group’s approach to the peace process has not changed as it favors violence in the country.
“They [Pakistan] they want dominance in Afghanistan under the pretext of strategic depth and have followed this policy. They see the Taliban as a tool for themselves, ”Khattak said in an interview with TOLOnews this week.
“We can say that their approach (of the Taliban) has changed if they stop the violence and say they will feel the pain of the people,” Khattak said.
Khattak’s remarks come on the heels of Taliban political vice president Abdul Ghani Baradar’s visit to Pakistan last week.
A video posted on social media showed Baradar among a group of people, apparently members of the Taliban, in Karachi, Pakistan, where he said that all decisions on the peace process are being finalized in consultation with the leaders of the Taliban and the council of clerics of the Taliban in Pakistan. .
Baradar said that the leadership of the Taliban exists in Pakistan.
The Taliban have so far not commented on the location of Baradar’s meeting with the wounded members of the group.
Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry reacted on Friday to Baradar’s video in Pakistan, saying that the presence of Taliban leaders and their fighters in Pakistan is a “clear violation of Afghanistan’s national sovereignty.”
The ministry called on Pakistan to prevent terrorists from using its territory against Afghanistan, adding that closing safe havens for insurgents and terrorists is critical for a peaceful end to the crisis in Afghanistan.
Pakistan has long been accused of supporting Taliban terrorists in Afghanistan.
The UN Sanctions Monitoring and Analytical Support Team to the 1988 Sanctions Committee, which oversees sanctions on the Taliban, in its 2019 report had recognized that almost 5,000 terrorists belonging to Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, which has its base in Pakistan, they were active in Kunar and Solo in the Nangarhar provinces of Afghanistan.
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