Afghanistan’s Deputy Interior Minister Rehmatullah Najib of the Afghan Taliban government has claimed that the Pakistani delegation during the negotiations in Istanbul had demanded that the Taliban leadership issue a fatwa against attacks on Pakistan.
In response to the demands put by the Pakistani delegation, the Afghan delegation said that it is not the leaders who issue the fatwa; the fatwa can be issued only by Darul Fatwa and not the leaders. The Pakistani government should formally approach the Taliban government on this subject.
“Pakistan was insisting that the Taliban’s Supreme Leader issue a fatwa against the TTP. We told them that he is an Amir, not a Mufti — he issues orders, not fatwas. We have a Dar al-Ifta (religious authority) for that,” Najib was quoted as saying by journalist Sami Yousafzai.
“The Pakistani government can send a written request for a fatwa. Our Dar al-Ifta will consider and review Pakistan’s request,” Najib said, according to Yousafzai, who posted a video of the former’s briefing.
Pakistan’s Minister of State for Interior, Minister Talal Chaudhry, reacting to the statements from Afghanistan, said that the Afghan Taliban are reluctant to issue a fatwa against DTP only because they use them.
Read more: Pakistan says Afghan nationals carried out recent suicide attacks
Speaking on a local news channel, Talal Chaudhry said that in an ideological and operational matter, the TTP and the Afghan government are linked to the Afghan Taliban. He claimed that the TTP has pledged allegiance to the Taliban’s Supreme Leader, Haibatullah.
When asked if Pakistan has proof that militants were using Afghan soil to attack Pakistan, he said that even when negotiations were held with the TTP in 2022 and 2023, the Afghan government was facilitating those negotiations.
Pakistan says that Afghan nationals carried out two fatal suicide attacks last week, one hitting a cadet college near the Afghan border in Wana, and the other hitting the local court in the capital, Islamabad.
Pakistan has repeatedly stated that Afghan soil is being used to orchestrate attacks on Pakistan’s military installations and armed forces by Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. They also believe that the interim government of the Afghan Taliban is providing safe sanctuaries to the terrorist elements.