All deals off’ with IEA if militant concerns are not tackled, says Pakistan’s special envoy

Ambassador Muhammad Sadiq Khan, Pakistan’s special envoy for Afghanistan, warned on Monday that “all deals with Afghanistan are off” if the Islamic Emirate government fails to act on Islamabad’s concerns regarding terrorism emanating from Afghan soil.

Pakistan has long accused the IEA of not doing enough to stop militants from carrying out attacks on Pakistani soil. The IEA has however repeatedly denied the accusations and said they will not allow any individual or group to threaten another country from Afghanistan. 

Addressing a seminar at the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI), Khan said: “TTP (Tehreek-e-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.”

“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,” he stated. 

His comments came only two weeks after his talks with senior IEA officials on a wide range of issues, including the TTP. 

Khan also stated at the seminar that in the past year, at least 500 Afghan nationals have been involved in terrorist attacks in Pakistan and that this number is on the rise. 

On the refugee issue, he said there has been an outcry about Islamabad’s decision to deport Afghans in Pakistan. He added however that so far this year only 568 Afghans have been deported, opposed to the 1.5 million Afghan refugees sent home from Iran last year. This, he said, did not cause an outcry as has happened in Pakistan. 

He also said India was behind militants in Afghanistan, providing them with financial support.