KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The Taliban authorities have pushed back against Pakistani envoy Asif Durrani’s recent warning of a potential 9/11-style attack from Afghanistan, claiming that the real threats originate from Pakistan instead.
In a statement on X on Tuesday, August 20, Hafiz Zia Ahmad, the deputy spokesperson for the Taliban foreign ministry, accused Durrani of misleading public perception about Afghanistan.
As reported by Pakistani media, during a discussion in Islamabad, Pakistan’s special envoy for Afghanistan, Asif Durrani, warned that another 9/11-like attack could originate from Afghanistan due to the presence of various terrorist groups in the country.
Mr. Durrani further said that, in the wake of conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, the international community’s focus has shifted away from Afghanistan, and the country has nearly been forgotten.
“In fact, Afghanistan is no more in the news. Forget about front or back pages, even in the inner pages Afghanistan is absent,” he said, cautioning “I think it can push back Afghanistan to pre-9/11 conditions and which in fact then give birth to 9/11,” he added.
He also expressed concern about the presence and growing capabilities of various terrorist groups, including regional affiliates of ISIS, in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, saying that these groups pose “a major challenge for the region and beyond.”
“My worry is that ISKP is gaining ground inside Afghanistan and that should be a source of concern for everyone in the region and beyond because of their actions in Iran, their actions in Moscow and also many operations inside Pakistan. If that can happen here it can happen elsewhere,” he said.
The deputy spokesperson for the Taliban foreign ministry, however, stated that the issues and concerns Durrani attributed to Afghanistan are more likely to be present in Pakistan.
“The Afghan government [Taliban] has successfully neutralized the ISIS-KP, insurgent group, within Afghanistan,” he claimed. “However, addressing ISIS-K hideouts along the theoretical Durand Line could lead to the complete elimination of this threat,” he added.
This is not the first time Pakistani officials have raised concerns about security threats, such as a 9/11-like attack, originating from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
Last year, Mohammad Ali Durrani, a former Pakistani senator, issued a similar warning, saying that the possibility of another 9/11 cannot be dismissed unless the flow of advanced weaponry to terrorists is stopped.
The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan has heightened security concerns among neighboring countries and the global community due to the potential resurgence of terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda and ISIS-K, which pose significant threats to global stability.
In a report last month, the member states of the UN Security Council said that terrorist groups in Afghanistan enjoy greater freedom than ever before in recent history. The report also said that there are no recent indications that the Taliban has taken measures to restrict the activities of these terrorist groups in the country.
