ISLAMABAD —
Pakistan is optimistic Afghanistan's Taliban will effectively combat cross-border terrorism to emulate the kind of cooperation that U.S. President Joe Biden recently hinted at between the de facto Afghan rulers and Washington, a senior diplomat said Saturday.
Asif Durrani, Pakistan's special representative on Afghanistan Affairs, told VOA in an exclusive interview that the Taliban government had recently initiated certain moves to address his country's cross-border terror concerns and those of other neighbors, including China. But it is premature to speculate on the outcome, he cautioned.
Pakistan has experienced a dramatic surge in terrorist attacks since the Taliban returned to power in Kabul nearly two years ago. The violence has become a daily routine, killing hundreds of Pakistanis, including many security forces.
Islamabad maintains the attacks are being orchestrated by Afghanistan-based fugitive leaders and fighters of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, which is waging a deadly insurgency against the Pakistani state.
"It's a serious issue. But steps are being taken to neutralize the TTP. We should also understand that it will take a while, but the process has been initiated," Durrani said, responding to a recent Taliban announcement that TTP members were being moved away from Afghan areas bordering Pakistan.
"That is a step the Afghan government is taking, so we have to wait and see the results. It is now in the initial stages, so it would be too early to comment," said the Pakistan envoy. "But if this relocation of TTP can actually happen and lead to peace along our borders, it would be a significant development and we would welcome it," Durrani added.
He said Islamabad had opened talks with fugitive TTP leaders at the request of the Taliban to persuade them to cease violence, but the process broke down last year over "ridiculous" demands by the militants.
"Pakistan has exhausted the dialogue option; for them, the only way is to surrender and face the law," Durrani said. He added that Pakistani military operations had deprived the TTP of any territorial control and their relocation from border areas suggests they have now also become a "liability" for the Afghan Taliban.
The Taliban reclaimed power in Kabul in August 2021 when the United States and NATO allies chaotically withdrew all their forces and ended nearly two decades of involvement in the Afghan war.
The TTP, also known as the Pakistani Taliban, is an offshoot and close ally of the Afghan Taliban. It is designated as a global terrorist group by the U.S. The terrorist outfit sheltered the Afghan Taliban in Pakistan and provided recruits as they waged insurgent attacks on U.S.-led foreign troops and the former Afghan government before sweeping back to power two years ago.
"Comparatively, Afghanistan is now very peaceful but there are pockets of TTP, ETIM, and other groups that are a source of concern. Both Pakistan and China hope that the Afghan government will take practical measures," Durrani said. China has outlawed the ETIM, or the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, for carrying out terrorist attacks on its soil out of Afghan sanctuaries.
China told a U.N. Security Council meeting last month that terrorism remains a major challenge facing Afghanistan and urged the Taliban to take "firm and strong measures" against terrorist groups operating in the country.
"Terrorist forces, including ISIL-K, al-Qaida, and ETIM, are colluding with each other and jeopardizing the security of the country, the region, and the world at large," the Chinese envoy to the U.N. said in his speech to the meeting. He used an acronym for the Aghan branch of the Islamic State terrorist group.
"As President Biden has also alluded to the cooperation, which Afghan Taliban and American authorities have had in taking counterterrorism measures, the same expectation we have, and the process has started. Hopefully, we will have some positive results in the near future," Durrani told VOA.
Nearly two years after the American military withdrawal, Biden told reporters at the White House last week that the U.S. and the Taliban, two former adversaries, were cooperating to push out al-Qaida terrorists from the war-torn South Asian country.
"Remember what I said about Afghanistan? I said al-Qaida would not be there. I said it wouldn't be there. I said we'd get help from the Taliban," Biden told reporters. "What's happening now? What's going on? Read your press. I was right," he added without elaborating.