ISLAMABAD: Ambassador Muhammad Sadiq Khan, Pakistan’s special envoy for Afghanistan, warned that “All deals with Afghanistan are off” if the Taliban rulers failed to act on Islamabad’s growing concerns regarding terrorism emanating from Afghan soil.

Pakistani officials have long been saying that leaders of the armed groups operate from Afghan soil to launch attacks in Pakistan. Kabul denies the assertions. “TTP (Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan) is a challenge, a big challenge for us.

It cannot be tolerated because our young kids and boys are getting killed every day. Martyrdom has become so common in certain areas. That is sort of, it would be criminal to ignore that. And we have to find a solution.

“Afghanistan will have to work with us on this. If they are not working with us, then all deals are off. Nothing could have happened. There would be no further progress on anything,” the Pakistani special envoy said while addressing a seminar at the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI).  “Pakistan could be very helpful to Afghanistan if we could stop terrorism coming from the other side of the border. I totally would be pragmatic and honest about it,” he further said.

“We have an issue in Pakistan also, that is one part. But people coming from Afghanistan is also an issue that has to be stopped, that has to be realised,” Sadiq pointed out. The Taliban government has not responded to the latest remarks by the Pakistani special envoy. However, it does not accept Pakistan’s stance on the presence of TTP on Afghan soil.