Pakistan again accuses Afghanistan of being used for attacks on its territory
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in his address to the United Nations General Assembly that armed groups are using Afghan soil to carry out attacks in Pakistan, remarks made amid rising security tensions between the two countries.
He said Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan and the Baloch Liberation Army were using Afghan territory to launch attacks inside Pakistan. Sharif urged the Taliban administration to meet its international obligations and take verifiable steps to prevent Afghan soil from being used against Pakistan and other countries.
The Pakistani prime minister also called for respect for the basic rights of the people of Afghanistan, especially women and girls. He described terrorism as one of the most serious threats to international peace and security and said Pakistan had paid a heavy price in fighting this phenomenon.
According to Sharif, Pakistan has lost nearly 100,000 people in battles with armed groups in its cities, mountains and along its borders, and has suffered more than $150 billion in economic damage.
Pakistani officials have made similar allegations many times before, but the Taliban administration has denied the presence of foreign groups in Afghanistan. Islamabad says attacks in Pakistan have increased since the Taliban returned to power.
Tensions have also spilled into direct clashes in recent weeks. The Pakistani army has carried out airstrikes on what it calls hideouts of terrorist groups in Afghanistan, and only this week struck parts of southern and eastern provinces of Afghanistan twice.
Pakistani officials claim Pakistani militants were killed in the attacks, but the Taliban administration and the United Nations have reported civilian casualties. The Taliban administration has described the strikes as a violation of Afghan territory and said it would respond appropriately.
As insecurity and border disputes have intensified, relations between Islamabad and the Taliban administration have been tense in recent months. Afghanistan and Pakistan share a long and heavily used border, and any disruption at crossing points directly affects the movement of people and trade between the two countries.
