Taliban tell Pakistan not to accuse Afghanistan of bombing mosque

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Afghan Taliban leaders on Wednesday dismissed allegations that their territory was used in this week’s bombing of a mosque in Pakistan, urging the neighboring country to thoroughly investigate such terrorist acts before blaming others .

Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi told a rally in the capital Kabul that Pakistani officials should find a solution to their security problems locally and refrain from “sowing the seeds of enmity” between the two Muslim countries.

No group claimed responsibility for Monday’s bombing of a crowded mosque at the heavily guarded provincial police headquarters in the Pakistani city of Peshawar. The ensuing explosion killed more than 100 people, mostly policemen, injured many others and demolished the top floor of the building.

A police officer injured in a mosque suicide bombing recovers in a hospital in Peshawar on February 1, 2023.

Pakistani authorities were quick to blame the outlawed Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), for what they called a suicide bombing and suggested the violence emanated from Afghanistan.

“We advise them to carry out a thorough investigation into the Peshawar bombing,” Muttaqi said on Wednesday. “Our region is used to wars and bombings. But we have not seen in the last 20 years a single suicide bomber blowing up the roofs of mosques and killing hundreds of people.”

Muttaqi echoed the suspicions and questions raised by critics in Pakistan following the large-scale destruction caused by the blast.

A man stands in the middle of a damaged structure, days after a suicide bombing at a mosque in Peshawar, Pakistan, February 1, 2023.

The TTP, designated a global terrorist group by the United States, has long carried out deadly terror attacks in Pakistan and its leaders are believed to be directing the violence from Afghan sanctuaries. But the Pakistani Taliban have categorically denied any involvement in the bombing of the Peshawar mosque.

Moazzam Jah Ansari, the provincial police chief, told reporters on Tuesday that a suicide bomber had entered the mosque as a guest, using up to 12 kilograms of explosive material brought to the site in pieces earlier.

Investigators said Wednesday they had arrested several suspects in connection with the deadly bombing. Provincial police officials said they recovered the assailant’s remains but did not share any further details. They did not rule out the possibility that the suicide bomber received inside assistance to evade security checks.

The Pakistani military has been frequently accused of harboring Afghan Taliban leaders and fighters as they carry out insurgent attacks, including suicide bombings, against US-led international forces in Afghanistan for nearly two decades.

The Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in August 2021 as the United States and allied nations withdrew troops from the country.

Police officers patrol a street in Peshawar on February 1, 2023, days after the suicide bombing of a mosque inside a police headquarters.

Since then, Islamabad has deepened economic and trade cooperation with cash-strapped Islamist Taliban leaders in Kabul to help it deal with financial problems stemming from sanctions and the international isolation of Afghanistan’s banking sector.

However, a series of recent terrorist attacks in Pakistan, mostly claimed by the TTP, have strained relations between the two countries.

Islamabad and the global community as a whole have yet to recognize the Taliban as legitimate leaders, mainly on human rights issues and their restrictions on women’s access to public life and education.

US officials are also skeptical of the Taliban’s anti-terrorism promises and continue to urge them to prevent the use of Afghan soil for cross-border attacks. Taliban authorities dismiss the skepticism, as did Muttaqi in responding to the Pakistani allegations on Wednesday.

“Don’t point the finger at Afghanistan. If Afghanistan was a center of terrorism, it would have also hit China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Iran. Today, all of these countries are safe and Afghanistan too,” the Taliban foreign minister said. .

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