STOP SHELTERING TERRORISTS: PAKISTAN WARNS AFGHANISTAN

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan fired off a sharp warning on Sunday to Afghanistan’s hard-line religious rulers to stop sheltering homegrown Pakistani Taliban militants who have staged increasingly deadly attacks against the country’s military.

The warning followed Afghan reports that Pakistani aircraft late on Friday carried out bombing raids in Afghanistan’s eastern Khost and Kunar provinces, killing civilians.

Pakistan has so far refused to comment on the Afghan allegations, instead accusing the Afghan Taliban of doing nothing to stop attacks against Pakistan by militants in Afghanistan.

“Terrorists are using Afghan soil with impunity to carry out activities inside Pakistan,” said the foreign ministry statement that was unusually harsh in its language.

Pakistan was often accused of harbouring Afghanistan’s Taliban fighters before they swept to power last August as America ended its 20-year war. Since their takeover, Islamabad has led the way in pressing the world to engage with the religiously driven Afghan government.

On Saturday the Taliban foreign ministry called in Pakistan’s ambassador to complain of civilians killed in the bombing raids it said happened Friday, killing refugees in Afghanistan.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid warned Pakistan “not to test the patience of Afghans on such issues and not repeat the same mistake again otherwise it will have bad consequences”.

Pakistan has not confirmed any attack on Afghanistan and Sunday’s statement slams the Taliban rulers for doing too little to stop Pakistani Taliban militants using its territory to attack Pakistan.

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