Afghan Taliban have captured 200 fighters belonging to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan who were involved in the attack on security forces in Chitral, a report has claimed.
The report by Voice of America cites unnamed Pakistani officials to say that the Afghan officials told their counterparts about the arrest in a meeting in Kabul. The Pakistani delegation was led by Special Representative Asif Durrani.
The meeting reportedly came two weeks after an attack launched from Afghanistan killed four Pakistani soldiers. Retaliation by Pakistan’s army had killed twelve attackers as well.
Afghanistan’s de-facto government arrested 200 TTP militants as they returned from the Chitral attack and is now keeping them in custody.
The VOA report also said that Afghanistan is ‘relocating’ TTP fighters away from the border with Pakistan. The report also quoted Pakistani officials who think that Afghanistan’s government is ‘consciously’ distancing itself from the groups such as TTP who are involved in criminal activities and cross border attacks.
The development comes as Pakistan tries to engage with Afghanistan on a need to stop terror attacks originating from Afghanistan. Pakistan has repeatedly accused the TTP for operating out of bases in Afghanistan and incidents of terrorism have risen across the country in recent months.
The Afghanistan government has reportedly told its citizens not to help or cooperate with the TTP for its ‘jihad’ against Pakistan.
