Afghan Taliban reject UN report about militant groups in Afghanistan

By Islamuddin Sajid

ISLAMABAD (AA) - The Afghan Taliban on Thursday rejected the UN Security Council’s latest report about the presence of al-Qaeda and other militant groups in Afghanistan.

In a statement, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid called the allegations "false" and said those defeated in Afghanistan are spreading propaganda against the Taliban administration.

"The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) strongly rejects this false allegation. Unfortunately, a regular program of accusing the IEA has been started from the address of the United Nations, which is always spreading propaganda," Mujahid said.

His reaction came after the report submitted to the Security Council Committee by ISIL (Daesh) and Al Qaeda/Taliban Monitoring Team claimed that al-Qaeda is backing the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in attacks against Pakistan.

TTP is a conglomerate of several militant groups in Pakistan that Islamabad believes is currently inside Afghanistan. However, Kabul denies its presence in Afghanistan.

The UN Security Council in its report said that despite the Afghan Taliban’s stance of discouraging TTP activities outside Afghanistan, still the militant group engaged in cross-border attacks in Pakistan while the Afghan Taliban provided them with arms and equipment, daily Dawn reported.

According to reports, not only some Afghan Taliban fighters joined the TTP but also the Afghan Taliban are providing aid to families of the Pakistani militant group.

However, Mujahid said there is no presence of al-Qaeda and their administration does not allow anyone to use the territory of Afghanistan against others.

“Unfortunately, the reports of the Security Council originate from the sources who stood by the occupation for their own interests for the past 20 years and are hostile to the freedom, development, and security of Afghanistan,” he said.