Afghan Taliban rejects Pakistan claims after Islamabad suicide attack

Islamabad: The Afghan Taliban government has rejected Pakistan's allegations linking it to the attack on a mosque in Islamabad. Afghanistan said that dragging its name into the Islamabad incident shows the irresponsible attitude of the Pakistani government. The Afghan Taliban said that instead of making baseless accusations against Kabul, Pakistan should take responsibility for its own internal security.

According to IANS, Afghanistan's statement came after a post by Pakistan's Defense Minister Khawaja Asif on X (formerly Twitter). In the post, Asif claimed that initial investigations revealed the attacker had frequently traveled to Afghanistan. Afghanistan's National Defense Ministry advised Asif to refrain from making such accusations without evidence.

Pakistan should stop blaming Afghanistan

The Afghan National Defense Ministry said in its statement, "Khawaja Asif immediately and irresponsibly blamed Afghanistan without any investigation. Pakistan has previously followed a pattern of blaming Afghanistan for incidents of violence in Balochistan. This has been repeated again after the Islamabad attack."

The ministry's statement said that linking such attacks to Afghanistan is illogical. By making such accusations, Pakistan cannot hide its internal security failures. Afghanistan questioned that if they identified the attackers immediately after the incident, then why couldn't they prevent it earlier?

Afghanistan-Pakistan tensions

36 people were killed in a suicide bombing in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, on Friday. More than 160 people were injured in the attack on a Shia mosque. Pakistani investigators and government officials are claiming that the suicide bomber received terrorist training in Afghanistan. This accusation by Pakistan has once again heightened tensions with Afghanistan. Strained relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been ongoing for some time. Pakistan repeatedly accuses Afghanistan of harboring groups that are carrying out violence on its soil, while Kabul denies these allegations.