Taliban in Afghanistan claim that dozens of Pakistanis were involved in recent IS attacks

After Islamabad accused Afghans of taking part in suicide strikes on its soil, Kabul’s Taliban officials said on Wednesday that dozens of Pakistani Islamic State group terrorists had been killed or seized in Afghanistan during the previous year.

Recently, tensions between the neighbors have increased due to an increase in suicide attacks in Pakistan, with Islamabad alleging that Afghans routinely assist extremists.

According to Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesperson for the Afghan government, 18 of the “eliminated by our forces in Afghanistan” during the last year were natives of Pakistan.

He said, “They were Daeshis (members of IS) and they were involved in various bombings and attacks,” and added that dozens more were being detained in Afghan jails.

He was adding on a late-Tuesday remark that Taliban officials weren’t to be held accountable for “the security failure of any country in the region.”

“Instead of blaming Pakistan, the government of Afghanistan has strengthened its security measures,” it said.

It was the first time that Taliban leaders explicitly attributed strikes in Afghanistan to Pakistanis.

According to Islamabad, terrorists conducting strikes in Pakistan are doing so from safe havens in Afghanistan and are receiving support from Afghan nationals.

General Syed Asim Munir, head of the military, said on Monday that the participation of Afghan nationals “is detrimental to regional peace, stability, and deviation from the Doha Peace Agreement”, a pact that saw US-led troops withdraw from Afghanistan after a 20-year occupation.

A crucial component of the agreement is that the Taliban have repeatedly promised not to let foreign fighters to use Afghan territory to launch operations overseas.

The defence minister gave a speech last week that warned security forces that fighting outside of Afghanistan was not religiously sanctioned “jihad” but rather war, which had been prohibited by Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada. The address was televised on Afghan state television.