ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday asked Afghanistan’s administration to choose between his country and the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) during a visit to the northwestern Bannu city after 12 soldiers were killed in an ambush and 35 militants shot dead in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa this week.
Relations between the two neighboring countries began to fray after a wave of deadly suicide bombings in Pakistan two years ago that Islamabad blamed on TTP fighters it said were based across the border.
Pakistani officials accused the administration in Kabul of facilitating cross-border attacks, a charge Afghan authorities rejected, saying Pakistan’s security troubles were domestic.
As violence mounted, Pakistan started expelling undocumented foreigners, mostly Afghans, deepening the bilateral rift.
“Terrorists come from Afghanistan and, together with the TTP, these khawarij join forces to martyr our soldiers, our brothers and sisters and ordinary citizens,” Sharif said after visiting wounded troops at Bannu’s Combined Military Hospital.
