Afghan Ambassador summoned to Pakistani Foreign Ministry in connection with terrorist attack in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry has summoned the Afghan Ambassador in connection with the November 26 suicide attack in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province by a suicide bomber from the Afghan-based outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). This was reported by The Express Tribune.

According to the media, representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed deep concern to the Ambassador about the continued use of Afghan territory for terrorist attacks against Pakistan. The ministry demanded the cessation of activities of all anti-Pakistan extremist groups, an immediate investigation into the circumstances of the suicide attack on a military convoy near the city of Bannu in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, punishment of those responsible for the crime and the extradition of the leader of the TTP faction who organized the attack, Hafiz Gul Bahadur.

The Bannu attack was the 16th suicide attack in 2023 in Pakistan. It left two people dead and 13 injured. This week, Kabul once again rejected Islamabad's call to use force against TTP militants, media reports said, leaving relations between the two countries at an impasse amid rising tensions. The interim government of Afghanistan, formed by the Taliban movement, offers Pakistan to search for alternative, but exclusively peaceful ways, to neutralize the TTP.

Islamabad is ready to consider resuming dialogue with the group if it completely lays down its arms and submits to the constitution and laws of the country. In December 2022, negotiations between the Pakistani authorities and the TTP reached a dead end and were interrupted. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, since August 2021, when the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, the number of terrorist attacks in Pakistan has increased by 60% reaching 420 in total. The number of suicide attacks has increased by 500% and amounted to 141.