Key points
- Pakistan condemns Afghan Taliban for supporting terrorists against Pakistani soil.
- Security forces responded effectively to recent unprovoked cross-border attacks.
- Afghan soil used to plan and launch attacks into Pakistan.
- Taliban training and facilitating terrorists targeting civilians and armed forces.
- Afghan Taliban regime described as illegitimate, repressive, and authoritarian.
- New regulations legalise slavery, violence, and repression of women.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday strongly condemned the Afghan Taliban regime for providing sanctuary and support to terrorists who have carried out attacks on Pakistani soil, saying its security forces responded effectively to recent unprovoked aggression.
Speaking at a press conference, Minister for Information Attaullah Tarar detailed Pakistan’s recent counter-terrorism operations, noting that “the attackers were not only neutralised but they fled, leaving behind the dead bodies of their comrades and arms.”
He added that multiple terrorist posts had been captured, and the “nexus between the terrorists and the Afghan regime is now as clear as daylight.”
He emphasised that Afghanistan is being used as a base for planning and launching terrorist attacks into Pakistan.
“We are saying it time and again — there is a nexus between suicide attacks in Pakistan and Afghan soil being used for it.
Afghanistan is resorting to training these terrorists and providing facilitation of all kinds. They come into Pakistan and kill innocent people, including officers and personnel of our armed forces,” he said.
Tarar cited recent high-profile attacks, including assaults on an imambargah and district courts in the capital, and the martyrdom of Lt Col Gul Faraz Ahmed, as evidence of the persistent threat emanating from Afghanistan. “The Afghan soil is not only used but the Afghan Taliban regime is fully aligned with these terrorists and backing them completely,” he said.
In addition to security concerns, the minister highlighted what he described as the Afghan Taliban regime’s systemic repression and human rights violations.
The Minister described the Afghan Taliban regime as illegitimate and repressive, saying it “is based on repression, subdues women, children, and minorities, and has usurped the basic rights of Afghan citizens. It is an illegitimate government with no backing from its people.”
He further criticised the Taliban for exploiting religious interpretations for authoritarian purposes, stating, “It is a regime which is based on perversion of religion to further its own interests and motives.”
Highlighting the regime’s violation of women’s rights, Tarar condemned new Taliban regulations, saying they “legalise slavery, violence, and the repression of women,” in direct contradiction of the Cairo Declaration and international human rights standards.
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He added that under the Taliban, “women have no access to public parks, gyms, or other recreational places, education is banned, representation in decision-making is zero, and no women are present in the cabinet or at any decision-making level.”
Tarar concluded by stressing that Pakistan views the Afghan Taliban regime as an illegitimate authority engaged in supporting terrorism while violating the rights of its own citizens.
