Taliban families living in Pakistan: Interior Minister

Pakistan’s interior minister said Sunday that the families of Afghanistan’s Taliban live in his country, including in areas around the capital, Islamabad, and that members of the insurgent group receive medical treatment in local hospitals.

The admission by Sheikh Rashid Ahmed came during an interview aired by a privately-owned Pakistani television channel, Geo News.

This is a significant departure from Islamabad’s consistent rejection of allegations leveled by Afghan leaders that the Taliban use Pakistani soil to direct and sustain insurgent activities in Afghanistan.

“Taliban families live here, in Pakistan, in Rawat, Loi Ber, Bara Kahuh and Tarnol,” Rashid told the Urdu-language network citing the names of Islamabad suburbs. “Sometimes their dead bodies arrive and sometimes they come here in hospitals to get medical treatment,” he said.

Separately, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told reporters Sunday that violence and chaos could grip Afghanistan after the United States and NATO allies withdraw all their troops from the country by a September 11, VOA reported.

“Violence is increasing there (in Afghanistan) and obviously Pakistan is worried about it,” Qureshi said in Multan, in eastern Pakistan.

According to VOA, he warned that if the Afghan security situation worsens and turns into a civil war, it would be detrimental for Afghanistan, but it could also undermine Pakistani gains against terrorism as well as trigger another exodus of Afghan refugees into Pakistan – which according to Pakistani officials already hosts more than three million Afghan refugees.