Group's Political Ties With Tajikistan Expanding, Says Taliban's Deputy Prime Minister

A picture of Hazara, that has been published, shows that he is bleeding and has been taken to the hospital.

Pakistan's Hazara Democratic Party confirmed in a statement on its Facebook account on Friday, January 3, that Abdul Khaliq Hazara had been attacked.

According to the statement, police have arrested a suspect in the attack on Abdul Khaliq Hazara. The party, however, did not provide details about the identity of the attacker or his motive.

Sarfraz Bugti, the chief minister of Pakistan's Balochistan province, reacted to the attack and expressed concern over it.

A Pakistani media outlet reported on Friday, January 3, that Abdul Khaliq Hazara was attacked inside his house on Thursday night and that the person who was arrested was his neighbour.

The media outlet quoted a spokesman for the Hazara Democratic Party of Pakistan as saying that Abdul Khaliq Hazara was injured during the robbery and a clash with the thief.

Shahid Rind, the spokesman for the local government of Balochistan province, has promised that justice will be served after the investigation.

The attacks took place around 1:30am and the Taliban claims to have responded to the Pakistani attacks.

Talib Mangal, spokesman for the Taliban governor in Khost, confirmed the Pakistani rocket attacks, but declined to provide details.

No details have been released about possible casualties or damage in the conflict. Pakistani officials have not commented on the matter.

Pakistani attacks in the border areas of Afghanistan, especially in the eastern provinces of Paktia, Paktika, Kunar and Khost, have occurred repeatedly in recent years.

The Pakistani Air Force carried out airstrikes on the Barmal district of Paktika province in December. The Taliban put the death toll in the attacks at 46.

The Taliban have always claimed to defend the territorial integrity of Afghanistan, but the repeated rocket attacks by Pakistan have raised questions about the group's ability to contain these attacks.

Earlier, Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that Pakistan would attack targets in Afghanistan in the future as part of a new military operation against militants.

He added that the attacks would be on groups that target security forces and civilians in Pakistan.

Waltz said that the plan includes action in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, where attacks against the United States could be planned.

Waltz said in an interview with Fox News on Friday, January 3, that the United States must take a serious look at its defence and, most importantly, close its borders.

The national security adviser of the upcoming US administration added in this interview that in recent years, more than 300 people on the terrorist watch list have crossed US borders.

"Last year, eight ISIS members were identified and arrested as they were planning attacks in three different cities," he said. "However, a number of members of the group, who are based in Tajikistan, have not yet been identified."

Mike Waltz also emphasised on the importance of intelligence and law enforcement cooperation in countering the threat of terrorist groups, adding, "Apart from this, the offensive aspect must also be considered. This includes assessing external strategies, the location of bases and the deployment of special forces to prevent the activities of groups such as ISIS and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and other regions."

According to him, these measures are necessary to maintain America's security and allow Washington to prevent possible planning and attacks by jihadist groups.

The newspaper reported on Tuesday, citing Sullivan's aides, that Biden insisted he stay in his position.

The withdrawal from Afghanistan broke the "primary cohesion" of the Biden administration's national security team and created a rift between Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan in August 2021 claimed the lives of at least 13 American soldiers and led to the collapse of the Afghan government.

“You can’t end a war like Afghanistan where you’ve built dependencies without it being complicated and challenging,” the US national security adviser told the newspaper. “The choice was: go or stay forever, and it wasn’t an easy choice.”

Sullivan added that the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan allowed the United States “to deal with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in a way that probably wouldn’t have been possible if we had stayed”.

‘Pentagon's Resistance To Biden’

According to the Washington Post, the Pentagon resisted Biden's call to withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan and demanded that "a force of 2,500 remain in Kabul”.

The Washington Post author, citing two close advisers in the US government, wrote that Sullivan initially shared the Pentagon's concerns. However, he decided to "loyally" support Biden's plan for a full withdrawal.

Wall Street Journal reporter Alex Ward says no one has offered to resign over the issue of withdrawing from Afghanistan.

The White House and the US National Security Council have not yet commented on the report.

The hasty US withdrawal from Afghanistan has sparked much debate within the US. The US House of Representatives Foreign Relations Committee has repeatedly called senior US officials responsible for the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan to testify, most recently with Antony Blinken.

Islamabad was elected to replace Japan as one of the representatives of the Asia-Pacific region on the Security Council in June last year and officially began its work on January 1 this year.

On Wednesday, January 2, the United Nations Security Council raised the flags of Pakistan, Denmark, Greece, Somalia, and Panama as non-permanent members of the Council.

The ceremony was attended by Asim Iftikhar Ahmed, Additional Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations.

Pakistan's Dawn newspaper reported that this is the eighth time that Pakistan has gained membership in the council.

The newspaper also wrote that by becoming a member of the Security Council, Pakistan will also gain a seat on the Islamic State (IS) and Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee, which is responsible for identifying individuals and groups associated with IS and Al-Qaeda as terrorists and imposing sanctions on them.

"This will be a valuable opportunity for Pakistan to highlight cross-border terrorist attacks from Afghanistan by groups linked to the Islamic State militant group and al-Qaeda," the Dawn newspaper wrote.

Pakistan will have more influence in setting the agenda and presenting proposals by becoming a member of the UN Security Council. It is likely that Pakistan will use this position to highlight the threat of terrorism from Afghan soil against Pakistan, especially the threat of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, and to illegitimately portray India's sovereignty over Jammu and Kashmir.

Islamabad may also try to exert pressure on the Afghan Taliban from this area.

Pakistan's two-year term as a member of the United Nations Security Council ends on December 31, 2026.