ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has expressed concern over the uptick in militancy along its border with Afghanistan.

In an interview with the leading American magazine, Newsweek, Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations Munir Akram warned that unless the economic situation improves in Afghanistan, the Taliban may begin to lose members to more militant groups like ISIS or ISIL. He said Pakistan is determined to deal with terrorist outfits such as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Balochistan Liberation Army and the regional ISIS Khorasan branch internally.

Munir Akram stressed the need to find an effective strategy to deal with the situation in Afghanistan where the Taliban need to be convinced to deal with all of the terrorist movements. He said such efforts on the part of the Taliban would be difficult to achieve as long as their government is short of income.