KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Pakistan told the UN Security Council (UNSC) on Wednesday that Afghanistan has become a “safe haven” for terrorist and proxy groups, posing the “greatest threat” to its national security and sovereignty.
Speaking at the UNSC meeting on Afghanistan, Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmed said that groups such as ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, and Baloch separatists operate freely in Afghanistan under Taliban control.
He added that Taliban authorities have failed to take concrete action against these groups, leading to a surge in militant attacks in Pakistan that were planned and orchestrated from Afghan soil.
“Just this year alone, we have lost close to 1,200 lives to terrorism emanating from Afghanistan. Since 2022, more than 214 Afghan terrorists, including suicide bombers, have been neutralized in Pakistan during counter-terror operations,” Ahmed said.
He said that elements within the Taliban support these terrorist groups, allowing them safe passage and collaboration in training, illicit arms trade, and coordinated attacks against Pakistan. He warned that if the Taliban do not act, Pakistan will use all available options to defend itself.
“The Taliban must take concrete and verifiable action against terrorist groups based on their soil, failing which; Pakistan will take all necessary defensive measures for the protection of its citizens, territory and sovereignty,” Ahmed said.
China’s UN envoy, Fu Cong, echoed these concerns, saying militants from Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan remain active in Afghanistan and carry out attacks against neighboring countries. He urged the Taliban to take terrorism seriously, eliminate such activity, strengthen border control, and investigate the deaths of several Chinese citizens along the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s acting UN envoy, Naseer Ahmad Faiq, told the council that terrorist groups, including ISIS and Al-Qaeda, continue to recruit from Afghan territory and that the expansion of Taliban-run jihadi schools has intensified security threats in the region and beyond. He called for a legitimate, lawful government accepted by the Afghan people to ensure stability and urged the international community not to abandon Afghans amid these challenges.
The Taliban have not responded to the remarks. They previously dismissed reports of terrorist presence in Afghanistan as “baseless.”
