ISLAMABAD: An Indian YouTuber's trip through Afghanistan's Kunar province inadvertently supplied fresh evidence for a claim Islamabad has pressed for months, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), or Fitna al-Khwarij, operated with notable freedom in Taliban-controlled territory near the Pakistani border.
Islamabad uses the term Fitna al-Khwarij to refer to the proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), drawing on a historical Islamic reference to underscore the group's attacks on civilians, security forces and state institutions.
During the visit, the vlogger explained his encounter with TTP members in Kunar, a province that sits along a highly sensitive stretch of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. He recounted how Taliban personnel subsequently moved him away from the border area following the interaction and investigated the incident for almost two hours.
The episode has renewed questions about the extent of coordination or tolerance between Taliban authorities and the TTP, and whether Kabul has the capacity, or the will, to curb the group's activity in eastern Afghanistan.
Afghan land used against Pakistan
Pakistan has consistently urged the Taliban regime not to allow its land to be used as a safe haven for terrorist activities carried out against it.
Earlier on Friday, as Pakistan marked its 79th year of independence, the country's leadership renewed its warnings to Kabul over cross-border terrorism.
President Asif Ali Zardari said Pakistan had respected Afghan sovereignty and sought peaceful relations "despite longstanding differences," but stressed that Kabul must reciprocate by preventing terrorist activity from Afghan soil.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Islamabad desired peace and stability in Afghanistan but called the use of Afghan territory for attacks against Pakistan "intolerable."
"My sincere advice to the Afghan leadership is to immediately stop their territory from becoming a safe haven for terrorists," he said.
Firm resolve against terrorists
Separately, last month Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defense Forces, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, reiterated the armed forces' "firm resolve" against terrorist outfits that were operating as proxies of India.
The military spokesperson, Director General Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhary, told a press conference at General Headquarters, Rawalpindi, that 40,348 intelligence-led operations had been conducted nationwide this year, killing 2,084 terrorists.
“There will be no talks with terrorists; either they lay down their arms, or we will fight them,” Chaudhary said.
"This comes to an average of 10 terrorists being killed every day, which is the highest ratio ever," he said, adding that the figure spanned operations by police, civil armed forces, intelligence agencies and the military.
The latest episode from Kunar adds a rare, unscripted data point to a security debate that further proves statements from Pakistani officials.