DM Monitoring
NEW YORK: Antonio Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations, has called on the Taliban government to not allow militant groups such as Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to use Afghanistan’s land to carry out attacks inside Pakistan.
“There is a clear ask from the international community, which is for Afghanistan to stop all forms of activity of terrorist organisations that from Afghanistan represent a threat to neighbouring countries, including Pakistan,” he said, addressing a year-end press conference at the agency’s headquarters in New York.
“We consider that it is absolutely essential for the Taliban not to allow any form of terrorist activity that might have an impact in relation to Pakistan, as in relation to any other country of the region,” he added.
TTP is the largest militant organisation fighting against the state in Pakistan. According to the UN, the TTP also boasts several thousand fighters in Afghanistan, with strongholds on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
Although Pakistan Army offenses, US drone warfare, and factional infighting led to the TTP’s decline from 2014 to 2018, the militant group has been experiencing a strong resurgence since the Afghan Taliban and Washington signed a peace deal in February 2020.
Guterres also urged the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and the world at large to support Islamabad in dealing with the extended devastation of the flash floods.
He said the UN is holding talks with the authorities in Afghanistan as it believed the Taliban must deliver from the point of view of the interests of the international community and the interest of Afghanistan itself.
