Pakistan Urges Afghan Taliban To Curb Militants Launching Cross-Border Attacks

Pakistan on Monday urged Afghanistan’s Taliban government to prevent militants from using Afghan territory to launch attacks inside Pakistan, warning that the same armed groups could eventually threaten the Taliban’s own rule.

Tensions between the neighbouring countries have escalated amid repeated border clashes and Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said in September that it had documented more than 1,100 civilian deaths and injuries from cross-border violence in Afghanistan this year.

Speaking at a think tank event broadcast on Pakistani television, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar recalled delivering a similar warning to Afghan Prime Minister Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund during his visit to Kabul in July 2025.

“I politely reminded him that if the Afghan authorities failed to take appropriate action against terrorist groups operating from their territory, the day would come when these very groups would threaten his government as well,” Dar said.

Dar did not disclose Kabul’s response. However, Afghan government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid rejected Pakistan’s allegations, accusing its officials of undermining negotiations and prioritising propaganda over solutions.

“Blaming Afghanistan for its own failures by Pakistani officials is no solution to any problem,” Mujahid wrote in a post on X.

Pakistan’s Information Ministry responded that Islamabad remained committed to dialogue but said progress depended on Kabul fulfilling its counterterrorism commitments and taking verifiable action against militant sanctuaries and support networks.

Pakistan Accuses Kabul Of Sheltering Militant Groups

Pakistan has repeatedly accused Afghanistan of providing shelter to the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent.

The TTP is a separate organisation from Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban but maintains close ties with the group. Afghanistan’s Taliban government has repeatedly denied providing safe havens to militants targeting Pakistan.

Dar did not explain why he believed the armed groups could eventually turn against Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers.

The Pakistani foreign minister said Islamabad’s diplomatic and economic outreach to Kabul had failed to deliver meaningful progress on its primary security demand: action against militants operating from Afghan territory.

“Good neighborly relations are a two-way responsibility,” Dar said. “They cannot mean silently absorbing one attack after another.”

He said he visited Kabul three times in 2025 as Pakistan sought to expand bilateral trade, upgraded diplomatic representation to the ambassadorial level and pursued plans for a railway connecting Pakistan with Central Asia through Afghanistan.

Dar said Pakistan wanted Afghanistan to become stable and prosperous but could no longer ignore what he described as a continuing militant threat across the border.

“Attacks inside Pakistan are planned, directed and launched from across the border,” he said, alleging that militants infiltrate through mountainous terrain, target Pakistani soldiers and civilians, and retreat to their sanctuaries.

Pakistan Says Border Fence Is Nearly 95% Complete

Dar said Pakistan’s military had completed nearly 95% of a border fence stretching more than 2,600 kilometres (1,600 miles) along Afghanistan.

Construction began in 2017 following cross-border militant attacks on Pakistani army posts.

The foreign minister described the TTP as one of Pakistan’s most serious security threats, citing attacks on schools, mosques, markets and security installations. He also accused the separatist BLA of targeting civilians, security personnel and economic infrastructure.

According to Pakistani officials, more than 2,800 militant attacks since January have killed or injured approximately 3,000 people.

Pakistan Claims Afghanistan Hosts Thousands Of TTP Fighters

Speaking at the same event on Monday, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar blamed Afghanistan-based militants, including the TTP, for the increase in violence in Pakistan.

Citing United Nations and independent assessments, Tarar claimed that Afghanistan hosts more than 6,000 TTP fighters and over 20,000 militants in total.

He accused the TTP of using Afghan territory to recruit fighters, provide training and plan attacks inside Pakistan since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in 2021.

The allegations remain a major point of contention between Islamabad and Kabul, with Pakistan demanding verifiable counterterrorism action and Afghanistan rejecting claims that it allows its territory to be used for attacks against its neighbour.