Jam Kamal Khan, Pakistan’s commerce minister, has said that any engagement by Islamabad with Afghanistan will be conditional on the Taliban taking concrete action against militant groups operating from Afghan soil.
Arab News reported on Tuesday, February 17, that Kamal Khan stated Pakistan would make “no compromise” on national security and that groups using Afghan territory to launch attacks against Pakistan must be restrained.
Tensions between Islamabad and the Taliban have escalated amid a surge in militant attacks inside Pakistan.
Pakistani officials have attributed the attacks to groups based in Afghanistan, a claim the Taliban have denied.
In October last year, one of the most intense border clashes between the two countries erupted after Pakistan announced it had targeted positions of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan inside Afghanistan.
Pakistan subsequently suspended all trade with Afghanistan, despite a ceasefire being announced in Doha on October 19.
