Taliban terrorist group “Defense Minister” Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob said on Sunday his regime would tolerate no further “invasions” like the airstrikes allegedly conducted by Pakistan two weeks ago and might launch retaliatory attacks “next time” it happens.
Yaqoob, the son of Taliban founder Mullah Mohammed Omar, made his threatening remarks at a ceremony in Kabul commemorating the 2013 death of his father.
“We are facing problems and challenges from both the world and our neighbors, the clear example is invasion by them in our territory in Kunar,” Yaqoob said, referring to one of the provinces hit by purported Pakistani airstrikes.
Pakistan has been somewhat coy about taking responsibility for the raids, although it has not been shy about warning the Taliban to crack down on terrorist activity in the area, especially from an extremist group hostile to the Pakistani government called Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
“We can’t tolerate the invasion. We have tolerated that attack. We tolerated that because of national interests, next time we might not tolerate it,” Yaqoob warned.
The Pakistani Foreign Ministry responded by describing Pakistan and Afghanistan as “brotherly countries” whose people supposedly share a mutual aversion to the “scourge” of terrorism.
“It is important that our two countries engage in a meaningful manner through relevant institutional channels to cooperate in countering cross border terrorism and taking actions against terrorist groups on their soil,” a Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesperson said.
The Pakistani military said three of its personnel were killed in the North Waziristan region on Saturday by heavy weapons fire from across the Afghan border. The Pakistanis said several of the attackers were killed when its forces returned fire.
“Pakistan strongly condemns the use of Afghan soil by terrorists for activities against Pakistan and expects that the Afghan Government will not allow conduct of such activities, in future,” the Pakistani military said in a statement on the attack.
A senior Pakistani military official told the Express Tribune on Sunday that some militants from the TTP and allied groups have “already been moved out of our border region” after Pakistan pressured the Taliban to take action. The official expressed hope that cross-border attacks would decline, but said Islamabad wants the Taliban to do more.
“Our demand is clear that these groups must be eliminated or dealt with in a manner that they never pose threat to us again,” he said.
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