ISLAMABAD: Afghan Taliban have assured to completely break their relations with from East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
The assurance came into force after Pakistan and China have jointly pushed the Afghan Taliban to completely break their ties with terrorist groups, including ETIM, TTP and all other outfits that pose a direct threat to both the countries and the region.
The Taliban, which have made rapid inroads in Afghanistan since the US and NATO forces started withdrawing from the war-torn country, have been told in clear terms that they not only had to make a clean break from the terrorist outfits, but also evict them from areas under the their control.
Taliban delegations have visited neighbouring countries in recent weeks, gaining international standing for a movement that had been treated as outcasts and banned as terrorists for most of the past two decades.
The latest power to host them is China, whose Foreign Minister Wang Yi met a nine-person delegation on Wednesday led by Taliban deputy leader Mullah Baradar Akhund in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin during a two-day visit.
Although China has maintained contacts with the Taliban, but this is the first time Foreign Minister Wang publically met the Taliban leaders. The Taliban delegation’s visit followed the visit by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt Gen Faiz Hameed.
Official sources, familiar with the development, said the message had been conveyed to the Taliban in the wake of the July 14 terrorist attack targeting Chinese nationals, who were working on a hydroelectric project in Dasu, Kohistan.
At least nine Chinese were killed in the attack, which was initially termed as an accident. However, investigations later revealed that it was a terrorist attack and both Pakistan and China vowed to expose and punish the perpetrators.
Pakistan shared the findings of investigation with the Chinese authorities during the recent visit of Foreign Minister Qureshi and ISI Director General Lt Gen Faiz Hameed to Beijing. China’s own investigations also indicated that ETIM carried out the attack with the help of the TTP.
There was also the possibility of involvement of some “hostile agencies”, according to the sources. ETIM, which is an Uyghur Islamic extremist organisation founded in western China, is seeking the establishment of an independent state called the East Turkestan, replacing Xinjiang.
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