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AFGHANISTAN, KABUL: Mullah Yaqub, the Taliban"s acting minister of defence, asserted on Sunday that American drones were infiltrating the war-torn nation through Pakistan.

At a press conference in Kabul, Yaqub, the Army Chief Mullah Fasih Uddin, and the ministry"s spokesperson discussed the performance of the ministry over the previous year. Yaqub stated: "We hadn"t caught all routes of the drones but our intelligence reported that the United States drones were entering through Pakistan."

He added that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan"s (IEA) radar equipment was destroyed when the Americans left the country last year in August: "We demand that Pakistan does not allow its air space to be used by the US."

The defence minister added that the IEA"s national army now numbered 150,000 soldiers and was divided into eight border sections, each with 3,000 soldiers.

Further, Yaqub requested that all neighbouring nations hand up their helicopters and aeroplanes, and he emphasised that no one would be permitted to post defence equipment on their territory.

He stated that the inquiry into the death of Ayman-al-Zawahiri, the leader of Al-Qaeda, who was killed on July 31 in a CIA drone strike in Kabul, is still ongoing and has not yet been completed.

The Doha Agreement and Afghanistan"s sovereignty are being flagrantly violated by the United States, he continued.

Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, previously told the media that the war-torn nation has protested the US government"s use of drones in Afghanistan"s airspace.

The death of the Al-Qaeda leader in a US drone strike shows that the US has the potential capability to eliminate high-value targets, and crucially without leaving any US footprints in Afghanistan.

How the CIA carried out the operation to assassinate him has drawn criticism. Following the evacuation of US-led foreign forces, the CIA no longer has a presence in Pakistan or Afghanistan, where the US had troops stationed after the 9/11 attacks.

There were rumours that Pakistan may have assisted in the assassination of the al-Qaeda leader. A government source, however, firmly denied rumours that the drone may have originated in Pakistan and that the US had accessed that nation"s airspace.