In this Aug. 19, 2021, file photo, Taliban fighters patrol in Kabul, Afghanistan
Taliban have announced that they will join hands with Pakistan in Kashmir, a leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has said. With the statement, the PTI leader has unabashedly admitted Pakistan military's close ties with the Taliban and its anti-India agenda. Talking during an on-air television show, PTI leader Neelam Irshad Sheikh said, "The Taliban are saying that they are with us and they will help us in Kashmir."
Alarmed by the statement of the PTI leader, the news anchor said, "Madam, do you realise what you have said. You have no idea what you have said. For God's sake ma'am, this show will air around the world. This will be viewed in India."
However, unaffected and unconcerned, Irshad Sheikh continued saying that "Taliban will help us because they have been mistreated."
The clip of the video that was retweeted by Pakistani journalist and former ambassador to the US, Hussain Haqqani, has surfaced online and was recirculated by news agency ANI.
Earlier, the Afghan government had accused Pakistan and its intelligence service of playing a key role in fostering the Taliban.
Pakistan has clear role in current situation in my country: First woman Afghan mayor
Meanwhile, with the Taliban seizing control of her country, Afghanistan's first woman mayor on Tuesday said Pakistan has a "very clear role" in the current situation of the country. "The role of Pakistan is very clear, every child of Afghanistan knows this," Zarifa Ghafari, who was also one of the country's youngest mayors said.
Ghafari, who at 26 became the mayor of Maidan Shahr the capital city of Wardak province has fled to Germany after the Taliban takeover. Several former government officials and Afghan experts also hold Pakistan responsible for the Taliban takeover.
Pakistan has been accused of providing covert and overt support to the Taliban, who seized control of the country on August 15. The former mayor has blamed everyone including the international community for the situation.
"For whatever Afghanistan is facing today, everyone is to be blamed incl local people, politicians, children and the international community. The local people never raised their voices unitedly against all wrong incl terrorism," she said.
When asked whether the Taliban will face resistance from Afghans, Ghafari said: "Yes, definitely. Do you know why they (Taliban) are killing people like me? Because they don't want other people to know what they are. They don't want Afghans to stand against them".
Pakistanis celebrate Taliban's victory in Afghanistan
Many Pakistanis celebrated the Taliban's gunpoint victory in the country, The Washington Post reported. Several Islamist organisations in Pakistan distributed sweets while netizens highlighted the "failure of the US." A senior Islamabad official mocked the assessments of Western experts on South Asia.
"Afghanistan is presently witnessing a virtually smooth shifting of power from the corrupt Ghani government to the Taliban," a Special Assistant to Pak Prime Minister Imran Khan said in a tweet.
The development came a few days after demonstrators raised their voices in several countries against Islamabad's role in the Afghanistan debacle and blamed the country for helping the Taliban.
(With inputs from ANI)
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