ISLAMABAD – Growing convergence between defunct Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistanand Khorasan, the franchise of Islamic State in Afghanistan, remains amajor threat to Afghanistan’s neighbouring countries especially Pakistanand regional powers Russia and China. Since quite long Islamabad has beenraising its concern with Kabul over the way Afghan soil is being used bythe militants of TTP and Khorasan Afghanistan against Pakistan and soughtAfghan government action. So has been the case with Moscow which has alsobeen raising its concerns over the presence and activities of the IslamicState elements in Afghanistan.
Both the outlawed terror outfits have been trying to destabilise Pakistanby mounting terrorist attacks across the country over the past four years.On its part, the Afghan government and the US-led NATO forces have beenoccasionally trying to targeting the hideouts of Islamic State as well asTTP but at very low scale.
Both the forces have killed the TTP chief Mullah Fazlullah and some otherlow profile fighters, there has been no dedicated effort to eliminate theirhideouts and kill their fighters. Media reports suggest that Afghanauthorities have killed several militants including a key commander of theIslamic States last month.
Islamabad looks at this as a positive development and hopes that Afghangovernment should launch a major offensive not only against Khorasan butalso the TTP.
It looks at the US and Afghan Taliban engagement positively and expectsthat Afghan government and US-led NATO forces in Afghanistan take decisiveactions against TTP and Khorasan outfits.
On its part, Pakistan is working on war footing to fence its border withAfghanistan to forestall the threat and this effort is greatly contributingin tacking the menace of cross border movement of the terrorists onPak-Afghan border. Pakistan has constantly remained engaged with the US,Afghanistan, Iran, Russia, China and other regional countries in seeking alasting peace and stability in Afghanistan.
In a related development, Russia has strongly rebutted and described as a‘slip of tongue’ the reported remarks by a senior government officialregarding the movement of terrorists belonging to the militant IslamicState by helicopters from Pakistan to the Tajikistan border.
During her media briefing this week, Russian Foreign Ministry’sSpokesperson Maria Zhakharova said the comment by Russian Deputy Ministerof Internal Affairs Igor Zubov was a ‘slip of tongue’.
She also reiterated that Moscow is “closely cooperating” with Islamabad inthe fight against terrorism and negotiating a political settlement inAfghanistan. Zhakharova added that both countries share common concernsregarding the momentum being gained and the expansion of the militantIslamic State (IS).
“Great contribution is being made by all the countries borderingAfghanistan and Russia is a reliable partner of those countries in everyeffort to ensure the security of the borders,” said Zhakharova.
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On January 29, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy forAfghanistan Zamir Kabulov met Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi andemphasised on the importance of Islamabad’s role in bringing peace inwar-torn Afghanistan.
Kabulov had appreciated Pakistan’s efforts towards working for a politicalsolution in the region and was assured by Qureshi that Pakistan will keepstriving for peace in neighbouring Afghanistan, as that is the only way tobring prosperity to the region.
Highlighting the role of neighbours and the regional countries in the peaceprocess, Foreign Minister Qureshi had also lauded the importantcontributions Russia had made including the “Moscow Format ofConsultations”. Ambassador Kabulov had further stated that Russia andPakistan were important stakeholders in peace and stability in Afghani
In December, Islamabad and Moscow agreed to continue efforts through“Moscow Format of Consultations”, for supporting what they called theAfghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process. Analysts who closely followdevelopments about Afghanistan are pinning high hopes that the ongoing US-Afghan Taliban engagement would lead to end the decades old Afghan war.
They believed that era of proxy war is over and cautioned that all thestakeholders in Afghan peace should chart a common action plan to purgeAfghanistan of all manifestations of terrorism and shape including theTTP and Khorasan, the franchise of the Islamic State in the larger interestof regional peace and security.
Source: link-convergence-threat-to-afghan-neighbours
By: Maqbool Malik
