Pakistan’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Mohammad Sadiq Khan, arrived in Tehran on Sunday for high-level talks with Iranian officials, Iran’s state-run news agency reported. The visit comes at a time of heightened regional anxiety over Afghanistan’s security and political future.
According to officials, discussions will focus on Afghanistan’s deteriorating situation and avenues to strengthen cooperation between Tehran and Islamabad. The trip follows a quadrilateral meeting in New York last week on the sidelines of the 80th UN General Assembly, where the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Iran, China, and Russia voiced concerns over terrorism and instability spilling beyond Afghan borders.
For Islamabad, the Taliban’s refusal to rein in the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) remains a major source of friction. Pakistan accuses the Taliban of providing safe havens to TTP fighters responsible for cross-border attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, straining what was once a cautious partnership.
Meanwhile, inside Afghanistan, violence continues to highlight the fragile security environment. On Saturday, unidentified gunmen killed Samad Tanai, a former officer of the defunct National Directorate of Security (NDS), in Khost province’s Tanai district. Local sources said the attack stemmed from a long-standing family feud dating back more than a decade, underscoring the Taliban’s struggle to control personal vendettas and retaliatory killings.
Observers note that such incidents reflect a broader pattern: since the Taliban’s takeover in 2021, former Afghan security personnel have increasingly become targets of revenge killings, despite Taliban assurances of amnesty. The persistence of these attacks has fueled fears among the global community that Afghanistan is slipping deeper into lawlessness.
Regional players are now stepping up diplomatic engagement to prevent Afghanistan from once again becoming a hub for militancy. Analysts warn that without tangible action by the Taliban, both against terrorist groups and in forming an inclusive government, the country risks greater isolation and instability.
As one regional diplomat put it, “Afghanistan is not just the Taliban’s problem; it is everyone’s problem. If they fail, the consequences will not stop at their borders.”
