Taliban deputy foreign affairs min warns Pak to not 'force Afghans to react'

KABUL: Taliban acting Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai warned Islamabad to treat Afghan immigrants appropriately and not to force Afghans to react against their actions, TOLO News reported. Stanikzai said this during the meeting on the "Future Economic Development of Afghanistan", adding that the reaction of Afghans has been recorded in history and now Afghanistan has a strong defence force and plenty of weapons.

He further criticized Pakistan's move to deport Afghan immigrants and considered it a unilateral decision by the Pakistan interim government, TOLO News reported.

According to the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pakistani soldiers have been looting the property and assets of Afghan immigrants during their deportation from the country.

The Taliban official emphasized that Pakistan has ignored the demands of the United Nations and the world for the departure of Afghan immigrants, whereas, it has been earning money and high privileges from these immigrants for years now.

Referring to the construction of the Qosh Tepa Canal, the Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister assured the Afghanistan neighbours that their water rights to the Amu River are being respected, according to TOLO News.

He further said that the Taliban is determined to control the country's water, but has no such plan to destroy or harm the country's neighbours.

According to the information of the Refugees and Repatriation Department of Kandahar province, 4,533 families, which reached 31,547 people, have returned from Pakistan in the last five days. Pakistan's caretaker government announced October 31 as the deadline for Afghan refugees to leave the country.

The deadline called for nearly 2 million Afghan refugees to leave Pakistan or face forced deportation. Pakistan although stressed that its decision was only targeted to send back those having no legal documents, however, the Taliban continues to accuse Islamabad of harassing the refugees, according to The Express Tribune.

More than 6,500 Afghanistan nationals left Pakistan through the Torkham border on Sunday, taking the number of repatriated Afghans to more than 174,350, Pakistan-based Dawn reported. However, terrorism still poses a persistent challenge and as Pakistan is unable to combat terrorism effectively, its government has now turned its focus towards the vulnerable Afghan refugee population.

In addition to voluntary repatriation, Afghan nationals imprisoned for involvement in petty crimes were also being deported, Dawn reported citing official documents.