Senior analyst Najam Sethi has stated that negotiating with Taliban and resettling terrorists back in the country was the military establishment’s policy, not Imran Khan’s.
“From 2008 to 2018, at least fourteen negotiations or settlements were made with the Taliban. There is a history of Pakistan’s capitulation when dealing with these terrorists. If you remember, there was also a time when the Taliban were referred to as good but misguided Muslims,” stated Sethi on Samaa News.
“Imran Khan was simply the spokesperson of the establishment, and these were the establishment’s policies. Khan couldn’t have done anything about it,” concluded Najam Sethi.
Sethi’s statement comes right after Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General (DG) Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said on Friday: “The entire nation is paying the price with its blood for the policy of bringing back and settling in Afghanistan under its own stubbornness, but such a person is still incapable of learning from his mistake.”
Pakistan has consistently blamed its neighbouring country, Afghanistan, since 2022 due to a stark increase in terrorism in the country.
“Terrorist outfits are being provided sanctuaries and support and are allowed unrestrained activities on Afghan territory,” stated the DG ISPR.
“All evidence related to terrorism can be traced back to the safe havens enjoyed by terrorists in Afghanistan. The army chief has a clear and straight-forward stance on this: that Pakistan has reservations on banned organisations’ sanctuaries, support, and unrestrained activities on Afghan territory,” he asserted.
The DG ISPR also added: “From September 2023 till now, 815,000 illegal Afghan citizens have gone returned [to their Afghanistan].”
Pakistan targeted Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) camps late Tuesday night with airstrikes in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika province, reportedly killing and wounding multiple suspected terrorists. Dawn News reported that Pakistani fighter jets targeted TTP camps in the Murgha and Laman areas of the Bernal district in Afghanistan.
An X post by the Afghan Defence Ministry also confirmed Pakistan’s targeted attack. However, it claimed that the fatalities from Pakistan’s airstrikes included a number of children and other civilians.
“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan considers this a brutal act against all international principles and blatant aggression and strongly condemns it,” the ministry said.
This is the second time in 2024 that Pakistan has targeted TTP camps inside Afghanistan. Previously, it launched two airstrikes into Afghanistan’s Paktika and Khost provinces in March, targeting multiple terrorist hideouts.