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For permitting US airstrikes on Afghanistan, Pakistan earns millions of dollars: Taliban
Taliban allegations that Pakistan collaborated with the US to carry out the strikes were refuted by Pakistan as being "conjectural allegations" and a breach of accepted diplomatic protocol.
Kabul: Following the US drone strike that resulted in the death of Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Taliban asserted that Pakistan had received a sizable sum of money in exchange for allowing the US to carry out airstrikes in Afghanistan. They also said they had strong evidence to support their claims, according to media reports.
Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden’s deputy and the new commander of Al-Qaeda, was killed on July 31 in an American counterterrorism operation in Afghanistan.
It is also important to note that this is a significant development because the Taliban has already asserted that US drones that entered Afghanistan to kill Zawahiri passed through Pakistan’s airspace.
Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, the political deputy of the Taliban-led Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated that Pakistan had received millions of cash to comply with US requests for the use of its airspace while speaking at a gathering honouring World Tourism Day, according to Khaama Press.
Stanekzai stated that the evidence shows how Pakistan has granted the US access to its airspace while claiming to have it in his hands, according to Khaama Press. He specifically cited films to support his assertions.
Stanekzai stated that even if the situation in Islamabad is still dire, Pakistan should not take advantage of Afghanistan to improve its economic status. Pakistan is now suffering through a serious economic crisis.
Earlier, Pakistan was charged with allowing the US to use its airspace and territory after the Taliban nominated Mullah Yaqoub Mujahid as Minister of Defense.
Taliban allegations that Pakistan collaborated with the US to carry out the strikes were refuted by Pakistan as being “conjectural allegations” and a breach of accepted diplomatic protocol.
On September 11, 2001, Al-Zawahiri, one of the organisers of the attacks against the United States, urged his supporters to carry out similar acts.
In a speech broadcast on television, US President Joe Biden declared that Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri had been killed by an American airstrike and that “Justice has been served.”
“He will never again, never again, allow Afghanistan to become a terrorist safe haven because he is gone and we’re going to make sure that nothing else happens,” he had said.
The attack was carried out by an Air Force drone under the direction of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). According to the official, only al-Zawahiri was murdered in the attack and no one from his family was hurt.
Zawahiri’s presence in the Afghan capital Kabul, according to a senior US official, is a “obvious violation” of the agreement the Taliban and the US made in Doha in 2020, which opened the door for the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
