WASHINGTON
\nU S State Department spokesman says Taliban have responsibility to prevent Afghanistan from being used as safe haven for launching terrorist attacks. The United States has echoed Pakistan Army\u2019s warning to Afghanistan about terrorist sanctuaries there, urging the Taliban officials to take care of them.
\nThis was said by State Department spokesman Matthew Miller during his daily news briefing in Washington on Monday in reply to a question regarding the Pakistan Army\u2019s Corps Commanders Conference.
\nThe question was asked from Miller to comment on Pakistan\u2019s Corps Commanders\u2019 Conference held on Monday in which they urged Afghanistan to take care of the terrorist sanctuaries there which are coming and doing activities in Pakistan. And this in one week is the second time that Pakistan military has openly told Afghanistan to take some action, otherwise they are going to take some action against themselves.
\nIn reply, the State Department spokesman said \u201cSo I don\u2019t have any comment specifically on that, but I will say we have made very clear that we believe the Taliban have the responsibility to prevent Afghanistan from being used as a safe haven for launching terrorist attacks\u201d, the same demand Pakistan military had made twice during the last week.
\nEarlier in the week, the Pakistan Army had expressed serious concerns about militants allegedly finding \u201csafe havens\u201d in neighbouring Afghanistan. They had issued a warning of an \u201ceffective response\u201d after twelve soldiers were killed in two attacks. The army had stated it is troubled by the safe havens and freedom of action enjoyed by the TTP in Afghanistan and emphasized that such attacks are unacceptable.
\nSenior Pakistani politicians, including the defence minister, had expressed concern about the Taliban\u2019s statement on Saturday regarding the Doha Agreement.
\nIn an interview with BBC, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid responded to the defence minister\u2019s remarks about Afghanistan not fulfilling its obligations under the Doha deal by stating that the peace accord was not signed with Islamabad but the United States.
\nEarlier, Pakistan\u2019s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had said he was deeply concerned about the \u201csafe havens\u201d and freedom of action that Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has in Afghanistan.
\nSpeaking to BBC, the Taliban official assured that Afghanistan was not allowing its soil to be used for attacks in Pakistan, as the ruling group considers it \u201ca Muslim and brother country\u201d. \u201cThere is no TTP in Afghanistan. If Pakistan has any evidence, it should share it with us. We will consider it and take action. Pakistan blames us for its own failure in maintenance of law and order situation internally,\u201d Mujahid said.
\nIn response to Mujahid\u2019s statement, veteran politician and senior PPP leader Farhatullah Babar found it \u201cdisturbing\u201d. \u201cDoes it mean the Doha agreement binds the Taliban to rein in only some militants, not all?\u201d Babar interrogated in a tweet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON U S State Department spokesman says Taliban have responsibility to prevent Afghanistan from being used as safe haven for launching terrorist attacks. The United States has echoed Pakistan Army\u2019s warning to Afghanistan about terrorist sanctuaries there, urging the Taliban officials to take care of them. This was said by State Department spokesman Matthew Miller […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":344009,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-343978","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n