Pakistan’s Information Minister Tarar accuses Afghan Taliban of sponsoring cross-border terrorism

Islamabad: Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Friday accused the Afghan Taliban regime of sponsoring cross-border terrorism that “institutionalises slavery and orchestrates the systematic erasure of women and minorities”.

Addressing a press conference, Tarar said there was an “undeniable nexus” between the Afghan Taliban and the terrorist organisations carrying out attacks on Pakistani soil.

He claimed that the Afghan Taliban regime provides safe havens, training and facilitation to terrorists who cross into Pakistan.

The minister alleged that the recent unprovoked attacks by Afghanistan were met with an effective response from Pakistan's armed forces, resulting in the “neutralisation of attackers and the capture of several enemy posts”.

Tarar criticised the Afghan Taliban's domestic policies, characterising their rule as one founded entirely on the "perversion of religion" to serve authoritarian motives.

He said that the regime seized power by force without any legitimate process and operates without the backing of its people.

Tarar also slammed the Afghan Taliban's “draconian new criminal regulations, which explicitly legalise slavery, violence and profound social inequality”.

"The Afghan Taliban regime is based on a system of repression," Tarar said and reiterated that their oppressive actions and perversion of Islamic teachings have "nothing to do with Islam".

Pakistan on Friday said it was in an "open war" with Afghanistan after its forces killed more than 270 Taliban fighters and injured over 400 others in airstrikes in response to what Islamabad described as the cross-border attack by the Afghan Taliban.

Afghanistan's Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that Afghan forces killed 55 Pakistani soldiers and targeted what he described as "important military objectives" inside Pakistan.

The Afghan Taliban attacked several check posts along the border late Thursday, apparently to avenge the air strikes carried out by Pakistan in Afghanistan's border areas on Sunday. Pakistan responded by hitting targets in Kabul, Kandahar and Paktia under 'Operation Ghazab lil Haq' early Friday.