EU Briefed On Taliban Clash & Counterterrorism Concerns, Says Pak FM
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said he had provided detailed explanations to 27 European countries regarding Islamabad’s recent confrontation with the Taliban.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said he had provided detailed explanations to 27 European countries regarding Islamabad’s recent confrontation with the Taliban.
According to Geo News, Dar told reporters in Islamabad that he had informed the European Union of what he described as the “real situation,” including Pakistan’s view that the Taliban had not fulfilled their counterterrorism commitments.
Dar visited Brussels from 19 to 21 November to co-chair the seventh round of the EU–Pakistan Strategic Dialogue. Following the talks, the EU and Pakistan issued a joint statement urging the Taliban to take concrete action to eliminate terrorism in Afghanistan and emphasising that border tensions should be resolved through diplomacy.
EU ambassador Raimundas Karoblis reportedly said Pakistan’s demands for action against Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were reasonable and rooted in legitimate security concerns.
Pakistan Considered ‘Clean-Up Operation’ in Afghanistan
Dar also said Pakistan had been prepared to launch what he described as a “clean-up operation” inside Afghanistan during the recent escalation with the Taliban, but Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had halted the plan. Dar indicated that, without Sharif’s intervention, Pakistan would have taken punitive action against the Taliban.
He said Islamabad ultimately concluded that it was not appropriate to conduct operations inside Afghanistan, describing such action as equivalent to forcing entry into a neighbour’s home. Dar warned, however, that if the Taliban believed Pakistan was unable to respond, they were mistaken.
According to Dar, Qatar had been aware that Pakistan was preparing to react militarily, which he said prompted Doha to repeatedly request that Islamabad refrain from launching any operation. He said Qatari officials believed Pakistan was on the verge of taking steps that could escalate the situation and had offered to mediate and assume responsibility for helping to resolve the dispute.
Qatar and Turkiye mediated three rounds of talks between Pakistan and the Taliban, although none produced results.
Dar reiterated Pakistan’s position that the Taliban remained a “group” rather than a government and said Islamabad believed the international community shared that assessment. He added that Pakistan retained the ability to respond to the Taliban in any manner it deemed necessary, noting that Pakistan had previously confronted India, a significantly larger power.
