Pakistan has warned the international community that the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), “the largest terrorist group” operating in Afghanistan, could emerge as al-Qaeda’s arm with a regional and global terrorist agenda.

“Terrorism within and from Afghanistan poses the single most serious threat to the country, to the region, and to the world,” Ambassador Usman Jadoon, acting permanent representative of Pakistan to the United Nations, told the UN Security Council on Thursday.

“While the AIG (Afghan Interim Government) is fighting ISIL-K (Daesh), the threat from various other terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda, the TTP and others has yet to be addressed,” he said while speaking in a debate on the situation in Afghanistan.

Highlighting the ranking of 6,000-fighters strong TTP as the largest, listed terrorist organization, Ambassador Jadoon said, “With safe havens close to our border, it poses a direct and daily threat to Pakistan’s security.”

“In countering the TTP’s cross border operations, our security and border officials have confiscated some of the modern weapons acquired by the AIG from stocks left behind by foreign forces,” the Pakistani envoy said, adding that the terrorist group also receives external support and financing “from our adversary” — an obvious reference to India.

The TTP, he said, was fast emerging as an umbrella organization for other terrorist groups, aimed at destabilizing Afghanistan’s neighbours.

“We have evidence of its collaboration with other terrorist groups like the Majeed Brigade that is utilizing terrorism to disrupt Pakistan’s economic cooperation with China, especially CPEC,” Ambassador Jadoon said.

“Given its long association with al-Qaeda, the TTP could emerge as Al-Qaeda’s arm with a regional and global terrorist agenda.”

Pakistan, he declared would take all necessary national measures to eliminate these threats, cooperating with regional and international efforts to root out the menace of terrorism.

About Taliban’s new directive prohibiting women and girls from attending public and private medical institutes in Afghanistan, Ambassador Jadoon said the international community expects the AIG to fulfill its declared commitments on human rights and political inclusion.

“Instead of easing earlier restrictions, the AIG has intensified the restrictions on women and girls. These restrictions are contrary to Islamic precepts, jurisprudence and the Sharia.”

The Pakistani envoy also called for the Doha Process framework to go beyond counter-narcotics and the private sector; Afghanistan’s challenges, including terrorism, human rights and widespread poverty, are also affecting the region.

He said the international community is obliged to help the 23.7 million Afghans who need urgent aid and to take adequate measures to bolster Afghanistan’s economy — including reviving the national banking systemm and restoring commercial activity.

Pakistan, Ambassador Jadoon said, enjoys close bonds of ethnicity, history, faith, language and culture with Afghanistan.
“The suffering of our Afghan brothers and sisters affects the Pakistani people deeply. There is no country that is more eager than Pakistan to see Afghanistan return to the international community’s fold.”

Opening the debate, Roza Otunbayeva, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), said she has “strongly urged the de facto authorities to reconsider” the latest female-related restriction, which would have deadly implications for women and girls.

She said that the implementation of the “Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice Law ” has led to people choosing to self-regulate rather than risk punishment. The law also imposed other repressive measures, including a greater enforcement of requirements regarding men’s beards and Western-style haircuts that has led to the closures of barbershops.

Citing a November report on widening media restrictions, Otunbayeva noted that political decision-making by the de facto authorities is increasingly opaque, due to threats to the country’s stability, such as this week’s suicide attack on its Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation.

Outlining her Office’s engagement with the Taliban on issues such as human rights norms and detainee access, as well as on counter-narcotics, she stressed: “Engagement is not normalization or recognition.”

Engagement serves to prevent Afghanistan’s isolation or — worse — a return to conflict, the UN envoy said, underscoring the need to build trust for the benefit of the Afghan people.