"At least 19 soldiers had died fighting attackers from the armed group, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commonly known as the Pakistan Taliban in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a province that shares a long and contentious border with Afghanistan. Flanked by army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir to his left, Sharif delivered a blunt message to the Afghan Taliban, which returned to power in Kabul after the withdrawal of US forces in August 2021, and which he accuses of providing a haven to armed fighters on Afghan soil."
"Today I want to send a clear message to Afghanistan, he said while speaking to the media outside the hospital. Choose one of two paths. If they wish to establish relations with Pakistan with genuine goodwill, sincerity and honesty, we are ready for that. But if they choose to side with terrorists and support them, then we will have nothing to do with the Afghan interim government."
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visited a military hospital after attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa killed at least 19 soldiers and accused the Afghan Taliban of harboring Pakistan Taliban fighters. Additional fatalities occurred from an IED in Balochistan and a September 30 suicide bombing in Quetta that killed at least 10 and wounded 32. Islamabad recorded a sharp rise in militant violence, with a think tank reporting a 74 percent increase and 143 militant attacks in August, the deadliest month in over a decade. Pakistan is weighing military strikes and expulsions as options while tensions with Kabul escalate along the porous border.
#tehreek-e-taliban-pakistan-ttp #afghanistan-pakistan-relations #cross-border-militancy #quetta-bombing
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