Ishaq Dar Renews Warning to Kabul Over Terrorist Safe Havens
Tensions between the two neighbors have escalated amid repeated border clashes and Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan, deepening a longstanding dispute over militant activity.
Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Monday urged Afghanistan’s Taliban government to prevent terrorist groups from using Afghan territory to launch attacks inside Pakistan, warning that these organisations could eventually pose a threat to the Taliban’s own rule.
Addressing a think tank event broadcast on Pakistani television, Dar recalled that he had conveyed a similar warning directly to Afghan Prime Minister Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund during his visit to Kabul in July 2025.
His remarks come amid escalating tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan, marked by repeated border clashes, Pakistani airstrikes targeting terrorist hideouts in Afghanistan and continuing disagreements over cross-border terrorism.
“I politely reminded him that if the Afghan authorities failed to take appropriate action against terrorist groups operating from their territory, the day would come when these very groups would threaten his government as well,” Dar said.
While Dar gave no details of Afghanistan’s response, Afghan government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid rejected Pakistan’s accusations in a post on X, accusing Pakistani officials of undermining negotiations and prioritizing propaganda over solutions.
“Blaming Afghanistan for its own failures by Pakistani officials is no solution to any problem,” Mujahid wrote.
Blaming Afghanistan for its own failures by Pakistani officials is no solution to any problem.
The political, security, social, and economic challenges facing Pakistan are a matter of serious concern and have negative implications for the entire region.
1/3— Zabihullah (..ذبـــــیح الله م ) (@Zabehulah_M33) October 12, 2026
Pakistan’s Information Ministry rejected Mujahid’s remarks, stating on X that Islamabad remained committed to dialogue, but that progress required Kabul to fulfill its counterterrorism commitments and take verifiable action against militant sanctuaries and support networks.
Pakistan frequently accuses Kabul of sheltering Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), and al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent. The TTP is separate from but closely allied with Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban. Dar did not elaborate on why he assumed militants could turn against the Afghan Taliban. The Taliban government has repeatedly denied providing safe havens to militants targeting Pakistan.
Dar noted that Pakistan’s diplomatic and economic overtures to Kabul had yielded no meaningful progress on its central security demand: action against militants operating from Afghan soil.
“Good neighborly relations are a two-way responsibility,” he said. “They cannot mean silently absorbing one attack after another.”
Dar shared that he visited Kabul three times in 2025 as Pakistan sought to expand trade, upgrade diplomatic representation to the ambassadorial level, and pursue a railway linking Pakistan with Central Asia through Afghanistan.
He emphasized that Pakistan desires a stable and prosperous Afghanistan but can no longer ignore what he described as a continuing militant threat from across the border.
“Attacks inside Pakistan are planned, directed, and launched from across the border,” he said. “Terrorists infiltrate through mountainous terrain, target our soldiers and civilians, and retreat to their sanctuaries.”
Dar added that Pakistan’s military has completed nearly 95% of a 2,600-kilometer (1,600-mile) fence along the border with Afghanistan, a project initiated in 2017 following cross-border attacks on army posts.
Citing attacks on schools, mosques, markets, and security installations, Dar described the TTP as one of Pakistan’s gravest security threats while also accusing the BLA of targeting civilians, security personnel, and economic infrastructure. Pakistan says more than 2,800 militant attacks since January have killed or wounded nearly 3,000 people.
Speaking at the same event, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar blamed the surge in violence on Afghanistan-based militants, including the TTP. Citing UN and independent assessments, Tarar stated that Afghanistan hosts more than 6,000 TTP fighters and over 20,000 militants overall.
He accused the TTP of using Afghan territory to recruit, train, and plan attacks on Pakistan since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in 2021.
