ISLAMABAD: There is growing concern among officials in Pakistan about security in neighbouring Afghanistan, as the Taliban tries to form a government and stabilise the country following the departure of the US and other foreign forces.
Islamabad is particularly worried about militant fighters from Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, a separate, proscribed Afghanistan-based militant group, crossing from Afghanistan and launching lethal attacks on its territory.
Thousands of people have been killed in Pakistan in militant violence in the last two decades.
Underlining the security threat within Afghanistan, in the last few days, a suicide bombing claimed by an Afghan offshoot of Islamic State outside Kabul airport killed more than 100 people, including 13 US troops.
A rocket attack on the airport followed, and on Sunday militant gunfire from across the border in Afghanistan killed two soldiers in Balochistan.
“The next two to three months are critical,” a senior Pakistan official said, adding that Islamabad feared a rise in militant attacks along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, as the Taliban tried to fill a vacuum left by the collapse of Afghan forces and the Western-backed administration.
“We [the international community] have to assist the Taliban in reorganising their army in order for them to control their territory,” the source added, referring to the threat posed by resurgent rival militant groups, including Islamic State.
US officials have long accused Pakistan of supporting the Taliban which — after fighting the American proxy war against the Soviet Union — fought in a civil war in the mid-1990s before seizing power in 1996. Islamabad denies the charge.
Pakistan has said that its influence over the movement has waned, particularly since the Taliban grew in confidence once Washington announced the date for the complete withdrawal of US and other foreign troops.
The official, who has direct knowledge of the security decisions, said Pakistan planned to send security and intelligence officials, possibly even the head of the Inter-Services Intelligence, to Kabul to help the Taliban reorganise their military.
An Afghanistan Taliban spokesperson did not immediately respond to Reuters‘ requests for comment on security relations with Pakistan.
PAKISTAN EXPECTS TALIBAN COOPERATION:
Though recognition of a new Taliban government was not immediately on the table, the official said, the world should not abandon Afghanistan.
“Whether we recognise the Taliban government or not, stability in Afghanistan is very important.”
The official warned that Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K), a loosely affiliated offshoot of Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, was actively looking to launch attacks and recruit new fighters.
Left unhindered, it would almost certainly grow from relatively small numbers currently.
The United States recently launched two drone strikes targeting ISIS-K militants, including one in Kabul and one near the eastern border with Pakistan.
The strikes followed a pledge by President Joe Biden that the United States would hunt down the militants behind the recent suicide bombing.
The Taliban criticised the strikes as a “clear attack on Afghan territory”.
Pakistan, whose armed forces also possess unmanned drones as well as conventional aircraft, will avoid intervening directly in Afghanistan if at all possible, said the official.
The Taliban have reassured Islamabad that they will not allow their territory to be used by anyone planning attacks on Pakistan or any other country.
But Islamabad expected the Taliban to hand over militants planning attacks against Pakistan, the official added, or at least force them from their mutual border, where troops have been on high alert in recent weeks.
