Pakistani authorities have claimed that 70 per cent of terrorists involved in recent attacks carried out by the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were Afghan nationals, a steep rise from the 5-10 per cent recorded in earlier years, according to a media report.
Pakistan’s special representative on Afghanistan, Muhammad Sadiq, made the claim at a recent closed-door meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on Afghanistan held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, The Express Tribune newspaper reported on Monday, citing sources. The disclosure led the Iranian representative to share his perspective, revealing that his country, too, was facing a similar problem. The Iranian representative, according to the sources, cited an attack on Chabahar port, where out of 18 attackers, 16 were Afghan nationals.
The increased involvement of Afghan nationals in terrorist attacks has set alarm bells ringing in Islamabad, where officials now see the growing Afghan footprint in cross-border terrorism as a new and dangerous trend.