On Wednesday, December 21, shortly after a deadly suicide attack on the army base in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Mullah Sardar Ahmad Shaheen, the acting ambassador of the Taliban regime in Islamabad, to convey a serious warning to the Pakistani government.
The suicide attack on the army base in Dera Ismail Khan on Wednesday morning resulted in the deaths of at least 24 military officers and injuries to several others. The Tehrik-i-Jihad Pakistan, an ally of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack. The Pakistani government believes that the leaders of the Pakistani Taliban and allied militant groups are present in havens in Afghanistan, organizing deadly attacks inside Pakistan from their sanctuaries in Afghanistan.
In a statement, the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated: “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has summoned the Charge d’Affaires of the Afghan Acting Government [Taliban regime] to register a strong protest in connection with the terrorist attack on the security forces’ base in Dera Ismail Khan today.”
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The Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs also instructed the Charge d’Affaires of the Taliban regime in Islamabad to urgently convey Pakistan’s message to the Taliban leaders in Kabul. According to the statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has requested the Taliban regime in Afghanistan to condemn the Wednesday attack and prioritize conducting a thorough investigation and taking action against those responsible. The Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also asked the Taliban regime in Afghanistan to immediately take credible actions against terrorist groups, especially their leaders, and facilitate the arrest and handover of these individuals to the Pakistani government.
The Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs deemed the Wednesday morning attack as a “terrorist threat to peace and stability in the region” and added: “We must act resolutely with all our might and defeat this threat.”
For the past 20 years, the Pakistani government has been accused of supporting, facilitating, and sheltering Taliban leaders, particularly the Haqqani network. With the collapse of the Republic government and the return of the Taliban to power, Pakistan welcomed and established extensive relations with the group, even entrusting the Afghan Embassy in Islamabad to the Taliban. General Faiz Hameed, the former head of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), was the first senior foreign security official to visit Kabul on September 3, 2021, during the formation of the Taliban cabinet. Sources reported that the Taliban cabinet plan was prepared under the supervision and recommendation of Faiz Hameed. Additionally, Faiz Hameed was present in Kabul during the widespread Taliban offensive in Panjshir, which led to the fall of the province.
However, after more than two years of Taliban rule in Afghanistan, the Pakistani government is angry and frustrated by the significant increase in terrorist attacks in Pakistan allegedly carried out by the Taliban’s allies in Kabul.
The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, formed in late 2007 as a result of the alliance of several Pakistani militant groups, is now considered the biggest threat to Pakistan’s security and stability. Members of this group, who hosted Afghan Taliban leaders on Pakistani soil for years, fled their sanctuaries in Pakistan to Afghanistan with the collapse of the Republic government and resettled in various cities, particularly in border towns in eastern Afghanistan adjacent to Pakistan.
Since the return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan, the rate of terrorist attacks in Pakistan has been steadily increasing, and according to Pakistani authorities, some Afghan citizens are involved in these attacks. Previously, the Pakistani government criticized the joining of Afghan Taliban to the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan and asked the Taliban regime in Kabul to prevent its members from joining the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan.
In August of this year, Pakistani media reported that the government had requested the Taliban regime to publicly declare war in Pakistan as forbidden. Following that, Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, the defense minister of the Taliban regime, said in a speech to members of the group that war in Pakistan was not permissible and they should not go outside of Afghanistan for jihad.
Nevertheless, the Pakistani government continuously reports the presence of Afghans among Pakistani militants. In the latest incident, Pakistani security officials said that the suicide attack in early December in the Bannu area, which targeted a security forces convoy, was carried out by an Afghan citizen.
However, the identities of the perpetrators of the deadly attack on Wednesday morning, which resulted in the deaths of at least 24 security officers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, have not been disclosed.