Dar warns Afghan Taliban of terrorism costs

DPM urges Kabul to dismantle terrorist sanctuaries

ISLAMABAD:

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Monday issued a warning to the Afghan Taliban regime, saying its failure to act against terrorist groups operating from its soil could ultimately have consequences for Afghanistan itself.

Speaking at an international conference on Pakistan's evolving counterterrorism landscape, Dar said Islamabad had exhausted sustained diplomatic efforts to persuade the Taliban authorities to address Pakistan's security concerns but had yet to see results on its central demand.

"What does Pakistan ask? Only one. Please do not allow your soil to be used against any country, particularly Pakistan, for terrorism," Dar said.

He said Pakistan wanted a stable and prosperous Afghanistan and had repeatedly demonstrated that commitment through political engagement, economic cooperation and regional connectivity initiatives.

But, he added, Islamabad could no longer ignore what it regarded as a growing terrorist threat emanating from Afghan territory. "If the Afghan government does not take action against terrorists, one day it will have to face the consequences itself," Dar warned.

His remarks at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) conference represented one of Pakistan's clearest public warnings to the Taliban authorities amid a sharp deterioration in relations between the two neighbours.

Dar recalled that he travelled to Kabul in April 2025 after what he described as a four-year stalemate in high-level engagement and held detailed discussions with acting Afghan PM Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, Deputy PM Abdul Ghani Baradar and Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.

He said Pakistan subsequently followed through on commitments made during those discussions. Further engagement included another visit involving the Uzbek foreign minister and the Pakistan-China-Afghanistan trilateral dialogue in Kabul in August 2025.

"These were the sincere efforts on behalf of Pakistan," Dar said. "But the one ask, we are not seeing a result, unfortunately, so far."

He said Pakistan had also upgraded diplomatic representation and supported plans for greater regional connectivity, including a proposed railway linking Pakistan and Uzbekistan through Afghanistan.

Despite those efforts, Dar said, attacks inside Pakistan continued to be planned, directed and launched from across the border. He said terrorists infiltrated through difficult mountainous terrain, attacked Pakistani soldiers and civilians and then returned to sanctuaries across the border.

"No fence can substitute for real action against these terrorist sanctuaries," he said, referring to Pakistan's investment in fencing and managing its border with Afghanistan.

Dar cited UN monitoring reports concerning the presence of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Afghanistan and its links with Al-Qaeda, warning that the problem was not confined to Pakistan.

"A group that finds safe haven today to attack Pakistan can use the same safe haven tomorrow to threaten others," he said.

The government, he stressed, wanted the Afghan Taliban authorities to take "concrete, verifiable and irreversible" action against the TTP and other terrorist groups and ensure Afghan territory was not used against Pakistan or any other country.

Dar described the TTP as one of the gravest threats to Pakistan's security and said the group had been responsible for attacks on schools, mosques, markets and security installations.

He also accused India of sponsoring terrorist groups targeting Pakistan, including groups operating from Afghan territory. Dar said Pakistan had shared dossiers with the United Nations and international partners documenting what Islamabad described as Indian patronage of such organisations.

The deputy prime minister said more than 90,000 Pakistanis had lost their lives to terrorism while the country had suffered economic losses exceeding $150 billion.

He said Pakistan's sacrifices needed international recognition, but added that recognition alone was insufficient and called for greater international cooperation against terrorist networks.

Dar said Pakistan remained committed to fighting terrorism through the National Action Plan, Azm-e-Istehkam, stronger intelligence coordination and cooperation between the federation and provinces. "Pakistan's sacrifices deserve recognition, but recognition alone is not enough," he said.