While submitting his protest against Pakistani airstrikes against Afghan targets, the Taliban Foreign Ministry informed the Pakistani ambassador in Kabul that the Afghans “have a long history of defeating foreign aggression.”
A day earlier, the Pakistani Air Force carried out air strikes inside Afghan territory to target the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Haji Gul Bahadur, who is now hiding in Afghanistan.
The Pakistani ambassador in Kabul, Obaid Rahman Nizamani, was summoned to the Taliban Foreign Ministry in Kabul and handed a letter of protest against the air strikes, which, according to the Taliban, only killed innocent civilians.
The Afghan Khaama News Agency reported that the ministry condemned the Pakistani air attacks that took place in Khost and Paktika provinces, which resulted in the deaths of women and children.
A woman wearing a burqa passes by while an Afghan Taliban member checks people and vehicles at a checkpoint in Kandahar on Tuesday (EPA)
The ministry added that the Pakistani ambassador in Kabul, Obaid Rahman Nizamani, was summoned, adding that he had received a letter of protest against the attacks that occurred against the sites of Haji Gul Bahadur, a local militant commander in the North Waziristan region, who was linked to the Pakistani religious and political party, “Jamiet Ulema-e-Islam” in the past.
In 2000, he formed his armed group to oppose UN sanctions on Afghanistan. In 2007, he joined the Pakistani Taliban with his fighters, but he remained in conflict with the leaders of the Pakistani Taliban mainly because of tribal differences with the Mahsid tribe, which dominated the Pakistani Taliban in organizational terms.
His origins go back to Mada Khel, in North Waziristan, a town close to the Afghan-Pakistani border. He fought the Soviets during their occupation of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989.
In the early years of his career, he disagreed with the leadership of the Pakistani Taliban over their decision to attack the Pakistani army.
He had stated publicly in the past that attacking the Pakistani army would distract the Pakistani Taliban from its larger goal of attacking American forces in Afghanistan.
However, after the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, he directed his efforts against the Pakistani army and security forces. In November 2023, the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on the Taliban government in Kabul to arrest Gul Bahadur and hand him over to Pakistan. Islamabad also reiterated its demand from the Kabul regime to prevent the use of Afghan territory in terrorist acts against Pakistan.
He was likely educated at the Deobandi Madrasa in the Pakistani city of Multan, and may have participated in the Afghan civil war from 1992 to 1996, during which the Taliban, founded in 1994, began to control most of Afghanistan.
His classification of himself as a hafiz, or one who has memorized the entire Qur’an, indicates that his religious education played an important role in his thinking.
There appears to be some kind of high-level contact between Islamabad and Kabul, as the shooting stopped on the Pakistani-Afghan border after the clashes that began immediately after the Pakistani Air Force launched air strikes inside Afghanistan. The foreign ministers of the two countries held a telephone conversation after the suicide bombing that killed 6 army men in North Waziristan.
The two senior officials agreed to enhance cooperation in combating terrorism. While the Afghan Taliban insists that it does not support the Pakistani Taliban. But the Pakistani government does not seem to be taking this denial seriously, as Afghan officials reported that the exchange of fire on the Pakistani-Afghan border had stopped, indicating that some kind of high-level contacts had taken place between the two countries. “The firing has stopped and the situation is calm,” they said. This was stated by Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesman for the Taliban government in Kabul.
On Monday morning, Pakistan launched air strikes in the Afghan provinces of Paktika and Khost, killing 8 civilians, including women and children, according to Kabul.
These strikes led to an Afghan response, by firing “heavy weapons” at Pakistani military targets in the border areas, which prompted the Pakistani army to respond as well. The Taliban government warned neighboring Pakistan of “consequences that will be beyond Pakistan’s control.”
Pakistani media convey the view of former senior military officials that in order to control the Pakistani Taliban, Pakistan will have to inflict pain on the Afghan Taliban… “The Pakistani government is not ready to give up on the deaths of its soldiers in North Waziristan who were killed in A suicide attack was launched across the border.”
The Pakistani army has intensified its military operations against the Pakistani Taliban in the Pakistani-Afghan border areas, where a large number of Pakistani Taliban fighters are now taking their positions.
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