\u2022 Pakistan \u2018hopeful but realistic\u2019 as over 1,000 scholars seek \u2018necessary measures\u2019 to discourage cross-border movement of fighters
\n\u2022 FO says Afghan Taliban have failed to comply with past commitments, reiterates demand for written assurances<\/p>\n
ISLAMABAD: Amid concerns by Pakistan regarding the use of Afghan soil by militants to launch attacks inside the country, over 1,000 Afghan clerics recently passed a resolution apparently aimed at discouraging the flow of militancy from its territory to neighbouring states.<\/p>\n
The resolution, adopted by leading Afghan clerics, pledges that their country\u2019s soil will not be used against other countries.<\/p>\n
In case of violations, the \u201cIslamic Emirate has the right to take necessary measures against them\u201d, it said, noting that Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada had not permitted any Afghan national \u201cto travel abroad for military activity, so if anyone violates this\u2026 The Islamic Emirate must take necessary measures to prevent such people\u201d.<\/p>\n
The resolution, though welcomed by Pakistan, elicited only cautious optimism, given the Taliban\u2019s track record on militant groups. Terming it a \u201cpositive development\u201d, the Foreign Office reiterated its demand for written assurances from the interim Afghan government that its soil would not be used against Pakistan.<\/p>\n
The document, described as a significant development by experts in Pakistan and Afghanistan, comes from independent clerics, without any formal endorsement from the Taliban government, nor does it explicitly name Pakistan.<\/p>\n
However, it does say that whoever would \u201cconduct military operations beyond Afghanistan\u2019s borders would be considered a rebel against the state\u201d. This would also be considered \u201cas a violation of the emir\u2019s orders\u201d and would be a punishable offence, the resolution said.<\/p>\n
But it remains unclear who would enforce such a punishment, as the group of religious scholars who have issued it have no legally binding authority.<\/p>\n
However, the timing of the declaration seems significant, coming at a time when Islamabad is asking Kabul to rein in militants, particularly the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), who it blames for perpetrating terror attacks in the country.<\/p>\n
Pakistan has asked Kabul to issue a decree \u2014 in the name of supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada \u2014 to stop such incursions; a demand that was reiterated during a series of negotiations in Qatar, Turkey and Saudi Arabia over the past few months.<\/p>\n
However, according to officials privy to the meetings, the Taliban had asked Pakistan to approach their own scholars for such an edict.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u2022 Pakistan \u2018hopeful but realistic\u2019 as over 1,000 scholars seek \u2018necessary measures\u2019 to discourage cross-border movement of fighters \u2022 FO says Afghan Taliban have failed to comply with past commitments, reiterates demand for written assurances ISLAMABAD: Amid concerns by Pakistan regarding the use of Afghan soil by militants to launch attacks inside the country, over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14098,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14097"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14099,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14097\/revisions\/14099"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}