Pakistan Says Its Operations Against the Taliban Have So Far Been Limited in Scale
Rana Sanaullah, political adviser to Pakistan’s prime minister, has confirmed that Islamabad has so far carried out operations inside Afghan territory on the basis of what he described as “evidence” and on a “limited scale,” remarks that point to continuing security tensions between Pakistan and the Taliban administration.
Speaking at a news conference on Wednesday, Sanaullah said Pakistan’s main demand of the Taliban administration is that it should not allow Afghan soil to be used for “terrorist attacks” against Pakistan. He added that the Taliban administration has not yet provided Islamabad with any specific “guarantee” on this issue.
According to him, if there are training centres or activities on Afghan soil that could enable attacks against Pakistan, Islamabad considers itself entitled to “neutralise” them.
He also said Saudi Arabia, Qatar, China and Turkey had tried to ease tensions between Islamabad and the Taliban administration and secure assurances from the group, but these efforts have so far produced no result.
Tensions between Pakistan and the Taliban administration in recent months have also continued largely over allegations that Afghan territory is being used for attacks against Pakistan, an issue repeatedly raised by Pakistani officials.
