Pakistan based Lashkar-e-Taiba shifting base into the country, Afghan govt tells India

Photo courtesy: Reuters

New Delhi: The Afghanistan government has informed the Indian side that Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba is shifting base inside the country. The development comes even as the Taliban makes territorial gains in the country and the fear is that ungoverned places may be used by international terror groups.

India has been in various private meetings with various regional capitals has been raising this issue, especially the use of these places by Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed. "The trend we have seen for last one year is that Pakistan has been trying to shift, all these international terror groups out north and south Waziristan into Afghanistan", officials said.

Earlier this month, publically slamming Pakistan, Afghan President Ghani pointed out that "more than 10,000 'jihadi fighters entered the country from Pakistan in the last month'. He made the comments in the presence of Pakistan PM Imran Khan at the Uzbekistan connectivity summit and shows a sense of frustration in dealing with Islamabad.

It has now emerged that the number of fighters killed in Afghanistan in the past few weeks had Pakistani ID cards and many of the injured Taliban are being treated in Pakistani hospitals. Calls have been also made from madrasas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan to join "Jihad" in Afghanistan.

Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, China have all been concerned about ungoverned places in Afghanistan that may be used by international terror groups. Uzbekistan is worried about territory might be used by militant Islamist group Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, China is worried about ETIM or East Turkestan Islamic Movement gaining a foothold in these ungoverned places.