The United Nations Security Council’s Sanctions Committee has warned that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), operating with support from the Afghan Taliban, has carried out multiple high-profile attacks against Pakistan, several of which resulted in significant loss of life. Denmark’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN and Chair of the ISIL–Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee (1267), Ambassador Sandra Jessen Landi, presented the latest UN assessment, noting that the TTP comprising nearly 6,000 fighters remains a grave threat to the region, receiving both logistical and financial support from the Taliban’s interim government.
The UN Security Council’s latest report underscores once again that the TTP poses a persistent and escalating danger not only to Pakistan but to regional stability, particularly at a time when the Afghan Taliban appear to be facilitating the group at multiple levels. This situation is a direct alarm bell for the stability of Pakistan and the wider region.
Over the past two decades, Pakistan has rendered immense sacrifices in the war against terrorism, with its security forces shedding blood to protect the nation. Yet the existence of TTP safe havens across the Afghan border, the group’s structured networks, and the Taliban regime’s alleged logistical and financial support have once again pushed the region toward instability.
Contrary to Taliban claims, the TTP is not an “internal Pakistani matter”; it is a direct outcome of state-level patronage from Afghanistan. The Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) has previously released statements documenting actions against ISIS and other groups in Nangarhar, Kunar and Kabul between 2023 and 2025 exposing their limited control. If the TTP were truly Pakistan’s internal problem, its senior commanders would not have been killed in Afghan provinces such as Kunar, Nangarhar and Paktika.
UN monitoring reports confirm that Al-Qaeda’s training camps remain active in Ghazni, Helmand, Kandahar, Kunar, Uruzgan and Zabul, while networks of TTP, BLA and ISIS-K continue to operate freely. Intelligence briefings, including CIA assessments, have verified that Hamza bin Laden and several Al-Qaeda leaders are residing in Afghanistan under Taliban watch. The killing of Ayman al-Zawahiri on 31 July 2022 in Sherpur, Kabul, remains undeniable proof of Taliban sanctuary to global terrorist leadership.
According to the 36th UN Monitoring Report (2025), approximately 6,000 TTP terrorists are active across six Afghan provinces, sharing training infrastructure with Al-Qaeda. Despite this evidence, the Taliban’s repeated claim that Afghanistan has “no link” to TTP attacks is not only false but amounts to tacit admission of sheltering transnational terror networks. The world must now acknowledge that Taliban-ruled Afghanistan has become a central hub for multiple terrorist groups.
The Afghan interim government has shown little interest in governance or public welfare whether their people starve, fall ill, or flee the country is of little concern to them. Rather than economic development, education, technology or healthcare, their priorities lie in imposing restrictions such as internet bans. Millions of Afghans have lived in Pakistan for decades, yet in nearly three years the Taliban have failed to provide their own citizens even the basics of life.
Pakistan’s stance remains principled and unequivocal: Afghan soil must not be used against Pakistan’s internal security. When a terrorist organisation like TTP launches coordinated attacks from Afghan territory, it becomes Kabul’s responsibility to dismantle their sanctuaries and withdraw all support. Terrorist attacks launched from a neighbouring country not only threaten Pakistani citizens but endanger regional peace and stability.
Pakistan views the Afghan people as brothers, sharing their pain and aspirations for peace. But that peace cannot come at the cost of Pakistan’s sovereignty or the sacrifices of its martyrs. Kabul must immediately decide whether it will sever ties with terrorist groups and build a new relationship based on trust and mutual respect—or compel Pakistan to protect its borders, citizens and sovereignty through all legal, diplomatic, and if required, military measures.
For 40 years, Pakistan hosted millions of Afghans an act of generosity unmatched in modern history yet in return faced waves of terrorism and thousands of casualties. Meanwhile, India supported hostile forces in Afghanistan and labeled the Taliban terrorists. Even as the Taliban destroyed Buddhist relics in Bamiyan under Mullah Omar, today their foreign minister has embraced the same India they once condemned. History shows that ingratitude often leads one to strike their benefactor and the Afghan Taliban government has proven this proverb true.
Recent destabilisation attempts by TTP and Taliban elements along the border were designed to strengthen the extremist agenda of Fitna al Khawarij. The Pakistan Army, prioritising civilian safety, exercised maximum restraint while responding decisively in self-defence and foiling the enemy’s plans.
Pakistan’s retaliatory actions targeted only Afghan Taliban and Khawarij sanctuaries in Kandahar and Kabul, destroying several battalion headquarters and terrorist training centres. Around 200 Taliban and Khawarij militants were killed, forcing others to flee and abandon their dead. Investigations confirm that the recent Islamabad court suicide attack and the assault on Wana Cadet College originated from Afghan territory.
Despite Pakistan’s repeated diplomatic engagements, the Taliban government continues to ignore evidence and even cooperate with terrorists. Instead of acknowledging the truth, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid issued unfounded statements blaming “failed Istanbul talks,” an attempt to deflect from their own complicity.
Global security institutions, UN reports, and independent investigations have repeatedly confirmed that TTP maintains fortified safe havens in Kunar, Nangarhar, Paktika and Khost, where militants receive training and plan attacks on Pakistan.
The Afghanistan–India nexus against Pakistan has never succeeded and will not succeed in the future. The Taliban must realise that support for terrorist groups undermines their own political survival, regional credibility and international recognition. If the Taliban genuinely seek peace, they must take concrete action against all terrorist organisations, including TTP.
The international community has a responsibility to pressure the Taliban to dismantle networks that threaten not only Pakistan but Afghanistan’s own internal stability. Terrorism is not the problem of a single state it is a collective global challenge.
The latest UN report sends a clear warning to world powers and regional states: without a unified and decisive strategy, groups like TTP may once again push the region toward dangerous instability. The moment demands decisions that rise above politics and serve the cause of peace, ensuring a secure future for generations to come.
