Mincing no words, senior Afghanistan leader and once a member of the and once a member of the legendary Northern Alliance, Ata Mohammad Noor has termed Pakistan the ‘birthplace of Taliban’. His comments come days after videos emerged of the Taliban’s top leader Abdul Ghani Baradar engaging with followers in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi and confessing to the group's leadership in the country. They came and joined the Taliban and improved their presence from Badakhshan to Fariab and Badghis (provinces).”Earlier this month, Taliban's top leadership was in the Pakistani capital Islamabad and met Pakistan foreign minister SM Qureshi and PM Imran Khan. But what raised eyebrows of the Taliban leadership then meeting followers and going to training camps. Afghan foreign ministry had taken a strong objection to it and in a strong statement said, "The overt presence and activities of Afghan insurgent elements and their leaders in Pakistani territory clearly violate Afghanistan's national sovereignty and continue to cause crisis and instability in the region" which poses a "serious challenge to achieving sustainable peace in Afghanistan.”Noor is currently the Chief Executive of Jamiat-e Islami Afghanistan and was earlier in India as part of the engagements with New Delhi vis a vis the peace process.

Source: dna December 26, 2020 15:11 UTC