TTP receives funding from India via Afghan channels: Pakistan’s special envoy
The Special Representative of Pakistan for Afghanistan Affairs says Islamabad has evidence indicating that the TTP receives money from India through Afghan intermediaries.
According to a Pakistani media outlet, Dawn News, Asif Durrani, Pakistan’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, stated on Saturday, March 16th, in his remarks at a think tank event in Islamabad, that it is estimated that five to six thousand Pakistani Taliban militants (TTP) have sought refuge in Afghanistan.
The Pakistani diplomat has stated that if the families of Pakistani Taliban militants in Afghanistan are considered, their number would reach 70,000.
Pakistan’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, in this event titled “Peace and Reconciliation in Afghanistan: Pakistan’s Interests and Policy Options,” stated that Pakistan’s peace negotiations with the TTP have failed in the past because this quasi-military group was neither willing to surrender nor accept Pakistan’s constitution.
Durrani said, “It is obvious that someone else is bearing the cost of their maintenance because the Taliban government in Afghanistan cannot afford to bear the expenses of such a large number of people every day.”
He referred to the TTP as a red line for Pakistan. He stated that Islamabad has demanded the surrender and disarmament of militants and the detention of their leadership in negotiations with this group.
These are the first statements by Pakistan’s Special Representative for Afghanistan following the advent of a new government in Pakistan regarding the members of the TTP of that country and their external links.
The issue of the TTP was previously a source of tension between Islamabad and the Afghan government. Islamabad demands action against the TTP by the Afghan government led by the Taliban. Still, Kabul considers the TTP a domestic issue of Pakistan and denies the presence of its members in Afghanistan.
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