KABUL/NEW YORK: A new United Nations report has revealed undeniable evidence of the presence of terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda and the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (referred to as Fitna al-Khawarij) operating in Afghanistan.
According to the report, these groups continue to function freely within Afghanistan and have become a major threat to the peace and stability of Central Asian countries and the wider region.
The findings were presented by the UN’s Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team in its 36th report to the UN Security Council earlier.
Page 16 of the report states that Afghan authorities have allowed terrorist organisations, including Al-Qaeda and its affiliates, to operate without restriction.
It identified six provinces — Ghazni, Helmand, Kandahar, Kunar, Uruzgan, and Zabul — where these groups are active.
The report further disclosed that several Al-Qaeda training camps are operating across Afghanistan, including three newly established facilities where Al-Qaeda and the banned TTP militants are receiving military training.
According to paragraph 19, the TTP maintains a fighting force of approximately 6,000 militants who have access to advanced weaponry, making their attacks increasingly lethal.
The United Nations has warned that the unchecked activities of these terrorist organisations pose a grave threat to regional security and sustainable peace.
The report stressed that dismantling their facilitation and training networks is critical to restoring stability in the region.
Earlier, Pakistan summoned the Afghan envoy in Islamabad and demanded that the Taliban government distanced itself from the banned TTP and other militants backed by India’s intelligence agency RAW in Afghanistan.
Pakistan urged the Afghan Taliban government to sever ties with the internationally designated terrorist group TTP and fulfil its commitment to eliminate them from its soil.
The message was delivered through Afghanistan’s interim envoy in Islamabad, Sardar Ahmad Shakeeb, who was summoned to the Foreign Office.