Enough is enough. The growing belligerence of the interim Afghan government had become intolerable, to say the least; in fact, the Taliban had not been cooperating with Pakistan at all ever since they regained power in 2021. The government of Pakistan, in my view, has taken the right step to expel all the illegal Afghans from the country.

According to prime minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar, the government had to take this seemingly unsavory decision in view of constant unwillingness of the Taliban-led administration to act against militants using Afghanistan to carry out attacks in Pakistan. “After non-cooperation by the Afghan interim government, Pakistan has decided to take matters into its own hands - and Pakistan’s recent actions are neither unexpected or surprising,” the prime minister was quoted as saying by media. What is more important to note in this regard is the fact that Pakistan has also withdrawn its diplomatic support to the Taliban government.

It is no secret that the Afghan Taliban have been providing the militants of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) with safe havens and allowing them to launch attacks on Pakistan from the Afghan soil. In other words, the Taliban in Afghanistan have stabbed Pakistan in the back. An overtly hostile government in Kabul is therefore responsible for the ordeal of the Afghan people. It is about time the rulers in Afghanistan revisited their approach to Pakistan without any further loss of time.

Shahid Burki,

Rawalpindi

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023