KABUL: Afghan Defence Minister Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob has said his country does not want strained relations with Pakistan and seeks to resolve differences through dialogue, stressing that hostility serves neither side’s interests.
In an interview with BBC Pashto in Kabul, Yaqoob — the eldest son of Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar and one of the movement’s most influential leaders — said:
“We never want our relations with Pakistan to remain tense or bad. We believe that strained relations are not in the interest of either Pakistan or Afghanistan. Our effort is to reconcile in every area and respect each other’s rights as neighbours.”
The minister acknowledged that ties were currently “not as normal as they used to be,” adding that he was dissatisfied with the situation. “We need good relations, and whatever challenges or problems exist, we should find a way to solve them,” he said.
Dismissing Pakistan’s claims that militant groups use Afghan soil for attacks, Yaqoob accused Islamabad of scapegoating Kabul.
“TTP (the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan) and BLA (the banned Baloch Liberation Army) conduct their operations inside Pakistan, hundreds of kilometres away from the Durand Line,” he said. “If they are entering from Afghanistan and travelling such long distances inside Pakistan, why are they not stopped there? This shows the weakness of their security agencies, which is being blamed on Afghanistan to cover it up.”
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Instead of trading accusations, Yaqoob urged both countries to “increase cooperation and make a solid plan to resolve these problems.”
Denies Daesh, al-Qaeda presence
On global concerns about militant safe havens, Yaqoob denied the presence of Daesh in Afghanistan. “This could be the claim of those countries who created the group for their own objectives,” he said, insisting that the so-called Islamic State group had been eliminated.
Regarding al-Qaeda, he claimed all ties with the Taliban ended after the 2001 US invasion. “Al-Qaeda members have relocated to the Middle East, where most originated from. We do not have any information about their presence in Afghanistan,” he maintained.
