Highlights:
- In an interview, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan revealed that Pakistan has three million Afghan refugees, the most of whom are Pashtuns, the same ethnic group as Taliban fighters.
- Pakistan’s prime minister also dismissed a report that 10,000 Pakistani fighters had crossed the border to aid the Taliban as “absolute nonsense.”
The Taliban are not military groups, but ordinary civilians, according to Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, asking how the nation will track them down with three million Afghan refugees on its border.
Khan stated in a Tuesday night interview with PBS NewsHour that Pakistan is home to three million Afghan refugees, the most of whom are Pashtuns, the same ethnic group as the Taliban militants.
“There are now camps with 500,000 people and camps with 100,000 people. And the Taliban are not a military force; they are ordinary civilians. And, if civilians are present in these camps, how is Pakistan supposed to track them down? What makes you think they’re sanctuaries? ” he questioned.
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In response to a question regarding alleged Taliban safe havens in Pakistan, Prime Minister Imran Khan said: “Where are these safe havens to be found? In Pakistan, three million refugees belong to the same ethnic group as the Taliban…”
Pakistan has long been accused of supporting the Taliban in their war against the Afghan government militarily, financially, and with intelligence inputs, but Imran Khan denied these claims as “extremely unfair.”
He said that hundreds of Pakistanis died as a result of the US war in Afghanistan, despite the fact that “Pakistan had nothing to do with what happened” in New York on September 11, 2001.
Approximately 6,000 Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terrorists are operating on the Afghan side of the border, according to a study prepared for the UN Security Council. According to the UN Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team assessment, while the TTP has “distinctive anti-Pakistan objectives,” it also helps Afghan Taliban terrorists inside Afghanistan against Afghan forces.
TTP “has definite anti-Pakistan objectives but also militarily supports the Afghan Taliban inside Afghanistan against Afghan government troops,” according to UN monitors.
