'Not enough,' DPM Dar says Afghan Taliban jailed hundreds of TTP militants

• Dar urges Kabul to ensure zero cross-border militant activity.
• Pakistan reiterates demand for decisive action against TTP.
• Pakistan did not close border with Afghanistan "out of happiness."

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Saturday that during his recent visit to Kabul, the Afghan Taliban interim rulers informed him about the detention of hundreds of TTP militants.

 "[Afghan Foreign Minister] Amir Muttaqi invited Pakistan to send a delegation to come and verify arrests of hundreds of TTP members," the deputy premier said while terming the TTP militants detention "not enough". 

Briefing the media on his recent visits to Moscow, Berlin and Brussels, Dar urged the interim rulers to ensure Afghan soil is not used for terrorism against Pakistan.

"Islamabad maintains that far more decisive and sustained action is needed against TTP [Fitna al-Khawarij] elements operating from Afghan soil," he added.

Fitna al Khawarij is a term the state uses for terrorists belonging to the banned TTP.

Pakistan has witnessed a sharp rise in terrorism since 2021, the year that the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, and despite Islamabad’s repeated requests, the regime has yet to rein in terrorists using its soil for cross-border terrorism.

Lately, banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Noor Wali Mehsud plotted the Islamabad suicide attack, which martyred 12, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar confirmed on November 25.

The ties between the neighbours have strained further since October, when the two sides engaged in clashes. Taliban forces, along with TTP militants, attacked Pakistani posts, martyring nearly two dozen soldiers, following which Pakistan launched major attacks against Afghanistan.

A ceasefire was eventually reached in Doha with the help of friendly nations, but negotiations ended without a long-term deal after Kabul did not provide a written commitment to take action against militants sought by Islamabad.

During today's media briefing, Dar noted that Pakistan’s sincerity regarding Afghanistan was "not hidden from anyone," noting that he himself had undertaken three visits to Kabul.

The deputy prime minister said Pakistan and Afghanistan have had no high-level engagement for the past four years, stressing that such interaction must be restored.

He urged the Afghan Taliban leadership to review its policy, warning that Pakistan had "carried the coffins of its own soldiers" due to continued terrorist attacks.

Dar said Pakistan had suffered 4,000 martyrdoms since the Taliban takeover in 2021. Furthermore, he said Pakistan had conveyed to Afghan authorities that peace was the only way forward.

The deputy prime minister said Pakistan categorically asked Afghan leadership to take action against the banned TTP. However, he stressed, Afghanistan did not fulfil its counterterrorism commitments, and the security situation deteriorated.

He said Pakistan had only one demand: Afghan territory must not be used for attacks against Pakistan. Islamabad also asked Kabul to move TTP elements away from the border or hand them over to Pakistan.

Dar said his April 19 visit to Kabul yielded some benefit, and Pakistan fulfilled all promises it made — something Afghanistan also acknowledged.

He said Pakistan signed a railway agreement with Afghanistan, and during his visit to China, the Chinese foreign minister proposed holding a trilateral meeting in Kabul. Pakistan fully agreed with the proposal. But despite Pakistan’s single and clear demand, Dar said, "there has been no positive progress from Afghanistan."

'Cleanup operation'

Responding to a question during the briefing, the foreign minister said that Pakistan was prepared to launch a cleanup operation in Afghanistan when friendly nation Qatar alongside Turkiye offered to mediate between the two countries.

"They [Qatar] were aware of our planned kinetic operation, and they requested us to stop and took responsibility of resolving the matter," he said, thanking PM Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir for halting the operation.

However, Dar regretted, the two to three rounds of negotiations yielded no results. He added that the mediators withdrew in "embarrassment" after the Taliban refused to soften their position.

He said Pakistan did not close the border with Afghanistan "out of happiness," but due to security imperatives, adding that within the Afghan Taliban regime, "half are inclined toward peace, while the other half think otherwise."