Islamabad, not Kabul, will have to deal with Pakistani Taliban issue — Afghan Taliban

The file photo shows Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, front, receiving Afghan Taliban delegation at the foreign office in Islamabad on August 25, 2020. (Photo courtesy: Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs via AN)

• Spokesman says Pakistan and religious scholars must decide on ‘legitimacy or illegitimacy’ of Pakistani militant group 
• Islamabad has for long voiced concern over the TTP’s presence in Afghanistan 

ISLAMABAD: Afghan Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has said that it is up to Islamabad, and not Afghanistan, to address issues related to the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a militant group. 
The TTP is an umbrella organization of various militant groups fighting to overthrow the Pakistan government and responsible for attacking military and civilian targets, especially along the country’s border with Afghanistan. 
Islamabad has for long voiced concern over the TTP’s presence in Afghanistan. 
The Afghan Taliban, which swept across Afghanistan in a lightning offensive, took control of the capital, Kabul, on August 15 and has repeatedly vowed to form an “all-inclusive” government and not allow Afghan territory to be used in attacks against any other country. 
Mujahid reiterated that pledge during a late-night interview with a local Pakistani news channel on Saturday, saying: “Our principle stance is that we will not allow the use of our soil by anyone for destroying peace in someone else’s country.” 
On whether the Taliban leadership would ask the TTP not to “wage war against Pakistan,” Mujahid said: “The issue of the TTP is that Pakistan will have to deal with, not Afghanistan.” 
“It is up to Pakistan, and Pakistani ulema [religious scholars] and religious figures, not the Taliban, to decide on the legitimacy or illegitimacy of their war and to formulate a strategy in response,” he added. 
Inspired by Al Qaeda, the TTP launched several attacks against Pakistani security forces, including the storming of the army’s Rawalpindi headquarters in October 2019, killing more than 100 school children in December 2014. 
“We have been taking up the issue of use of Afghan soil by the TTP for terrorist activities in Pakistan with the previous Afghan government,” Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesman Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri told reporters last week. 
“We will continue raising the issue with the future Afghan government as well to ensure that TTP is not provided any space in Afghanistan to operate against Pakistan,” he added.