Pakistan’s military has warned the Afghan Taliban regime that it will have to pay a serious price if it refuses to stop supporting terrorism against Pakistan, with Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (DG ISPR) Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry declaring that the country’s armed forces are fully capable of countering threats emanating from Afghanistan, including drones.
In an interview with the British news agency Reuters, the military’s spokesperson said Pakistan’s demand was straightforward: the Afghan Taliban must stop supporting terrorist groups operating against Pakistan from Afghan territory. He said terrorist formations enter Pakistan from Afghanistan and receive weapons from there.
Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry accused the Afghan Taliban regime of using non-state actors and mercenaries to advance its objectives, adding that Afghanistan continued to be controlled by non-state actors rather than functioning as a normal state.
He described the Afghan Taliban regime as an Indian proxy and identified India as the biggest sponsor of terrorism in Pakistan. He also characterized the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) as Indian proxies operating against Pakistan.
The DG ISPR said Pakistan’s concerns extended beyond the TTP and BLA, pointing to the presence of international terrorist organizations in Afghanistan, including Jaish al-Adl, al-Qaeda and the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP). He noted that the United Nations, the United States and several other countries had also highlighted the presence of terrorist organizations in Afghanistan.
Referring to the historical evolution of the security landscape, he said multiple intelligence agencies and proxy networks had established roots in Afghanistan following the Soviet intervention, contributing to the persistence of non-state armed groups in the country.
The military spokesperson specifically named Noor Wali Mehsud, Bashir Zeb and Gul Bahadur among the terrorist figures whom he said the Afghan Taliban regime was sheltering. He maintained that the presence of such figures and the movement of terrorist formations and weapons from Afghan territory posed a direct threat to Pakistan’s security.
Warning of consequences if Kabul fails to act, Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said the Afghan Taliban regime lacked international credibility and urged the global community to press it to behave like a normal state.
He also called on the international community to compel the Taliban to halt the cultivation and production of narcotics, raising the issue alongside Pakistan’s security concerns.
On Pakistan’s military preparedness, the DG ISPR said the armed forces possessed the full capability to neutralize threats posed by the Afghan Taliban regime, including those involving drones.
The warning underscores Islamabad’s demand that the Afghan Taliban take concrete action against terrorist groups using Afghan territory to plan, equip and launch attacks against Pakistan.
