United Nations: Pakistan’s ambassador to the United Nations, Munir Akram, has asked the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to urge the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan to end their relationship with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
The TTP could “soon pose a global terrorist threat” if left unchecked, UN Security Council Ambassador Akram warned on Wednesday while addressing a special meeting of the Security Council on Afghanistan. In 2023, there were a total of 306 terrorist attacks in Pakistan — including 23 suicides. bombings that killed 693 people (330 security personnel, 260 civilians and 103 militants) and injured 1,124 others.
In February alone, the country saw 97 militant attacks that left 87 dead and 118 injured, the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) said.
In addition, a Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) Security report found that banned organizations such as the TTP were responsible for more than 82 percent of terrorism-related deaths and carried out 78 percent of terrorist attacks recorded in the country.
The report said that intensifying militant attacks indicated that the TTP and its affiliates would continue to resort to intensified terror attack to “force” Pakistan to resume the dialogue process.
“The inability of the Afghan interim government to control the TTP and other terrorist groups is eroding its claim to full control over its territory, which it asserts to secure international recognition,” he said.
He also called on the UN to investigate how the TTP acquired advanced military equipment and weapons and determine the source of its funding, which helped sustain an estimated 50,000 fighters and terrorist operations.
Regarding the reported border incidents, he said the armed forces were responding to “cross-border attacks by the TTP and its affiliates against border posts and installations in the country”.
“We would expect the UN to call on the Afghan interim government to prevent such cross-border attacks and infiltration of TTP and other terrorists into Pakistani territory,” he said.
Emphasizing that terrorist organizations in Afghanistan pose a security threat to the country’s immediate neighbors, the ambassador said: “Counter-terrorism must be a top priority in any future plan for cooperation with the Afghan interim government.
At the same time, Ambassador Akram said that the international community must help the millions of Afghans in need by “providing unconditional humanitarian aid”.
He called for “support for the Afghan economy, and to that end the international community should help revive the banking system and facilitate the release of frozen assets of the country’s central bank.”
The plenipotentiary said the Taliban “must live up to its international obligations, especially regarding the basic rights of women and girls, promote inclusiveness and, above all, eliminate terrorism in and from Afghanistan.”
He called for a realistic plan with reciprocal steps by the Afghan interim government and the international community that will lead to the integration of the country into the international community.
The envoy also detailed some of the objections to the Secretary-General’s report on the situation in Afghanistan, including his claim about the “unfavorable security environment in Pakistan”.
He pointed out that Pakistan had sheltered nearly five million Afghan refugees “for over 40 years at great economic, social and security costs with little help from the international community”.
Earlier, Roza Otunbayeva, Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) for Afghanistan, said in her briefing that “Afghanistan remains an ongoing challenge for the international community”.
“With a history of instability, terrorism and contributing to 85 percent of global opium production, the nation has also witnessed millions of refugees seeking refuge in neighboring countries and beyond,” she added.
