Islamabad’s caretaker PM says security in Pakistan worse since IEA takeover

Pakistan’s caretaker prime minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said Monday that Islamabad thought security would improve with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) in power but instead, the situation has worsened in his country.

In an interview with Geo News, Kakar said: “We thought that the situation in Pakistan would improve with the coming of the Taliban (Islamic Emirate) to power, but it did not get better, it got worse.

“I think the reason for the deterioration of the situation is the weapons and equipment left over from America and NATO, which are in the hands of terrorist groups,” he said adding that this has had a negative impact not only on Pakistan, but on the entire region including Iran, China, and Central Asian countries.

“In fact, bad things have started for Pakistan,” said Kakar.

Kakar claims that some of the weapons abandoned by the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan have fallen into the hands of criminals and terrorist groups.

“If America surrendered its weapons and equipment in a responsible manner, or if the withdrawal process was carried out responsibly, it would have been easy for us. Now, due to the hasty exit, it is not clear who got all the weapons and advanced military equipment that the former army had, a part of it may have fallen into the hands of the Taliban (Islamic Emirate), but it is also possible that a large part of it has fallen into the hands of criminal and terrorist groups,” Kakar added.

However, the IEA rejects these claims and say the weapons have been secured.

“We understand their concerns and have assured them that Afghanistan’s soil will not be used against them. There are some issues that arise, like insecurity, and some issues inside Pakistan, and we ask them to solve the issues themselves inside their country, and trust Afghanistan that we are their friendly and brotherly country,” said Zabihullah Mujahid, the IEA’s spokesman.

Kakar meanwhile said Pakistan wants “a safe, stable and happy Pakistan, which is tied to a safe, stable and happy Afghanistan, so our expectation is that the two countries will deal with all these problems in full coordination.”