Pakistan on Monday (12 October) urged Afghanistan's Taliban government to prevent militants from using Afghan territory to launch attacks inside Pakistan, warning again that the armed groups could eventually pose a threat to the Taliban's own rule.
Tensions between the neighbouring countries have risen amid repeated border clashes and Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan, intensifying a longstanding dispute over militant activities. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said in September that it had documented more than 1,100 civilian deaths and injuries resulting from cross-border violence in Afghanistan this year.
Speaking at a think tank event broadcast on Pakistani television, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said he had previously warned Afghan Prime Minister Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund about the threat during a visit to Kabul in July 2025.
"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.
He did not disclose how the Afghan authorities had responded. However, Afghan government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid rejected Pakistan's allegations in a post on X, accusing Pakistani officials of undermining negotiations and prioritising propaganda over solutions.
"Blaming Afghanistan for its own failures by Pakistani officials is no solution to any problem," Mujahid wrote.
Pakistan's Information Ministry rejected Mujahid's remarks, saying on X that Islamabad remained committed to dialogue but that progress depended on Kabul fulfilling its counterterrorism commitments and taking verifiable action against militant sanctuaries and support networks.
Pakistan has repeatedly accused Kabul of sheltering the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent, an affiliate of the global extremist network.
The TTP is separate from, but closely allied with, Afghanistan's ruling Taliban. Dar did not explain why he believed the militants could eventually turn against the Afghan Taliban.
The Afghan Taliban government has repeatedly denied providing safe havens to militants targeting Pakistan.
Dar said Pakistan's diplomatic and economic efforts to improve relations with Kabul had produced no meaningful progress on its main security demand: action against militants operating from Afghan territory.
"Good neighbourly relations are a two-way responsibility," he said. "They cannot mean silently absorbing one attack after another."
Dar said he visited Kabul three times in 2025 as Pakistan pursued expanded trade, upgraded diplomatic representation to the ambassadorial level and explored a railway link connecting Pakistan with Central Asia through Afghanistan.
He said Pakistan wanted Afghanistan to be stable and prosperous but could no longer overlook what he described as a persistent militant threat 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 said Pakistan's military had completed nearly 95% of a fence along its more than 2,600-kilometre (1,600-mile) border with Afghanistan. Construction of the fence began in 2017 following cross-border militant attacks on Pakistani army posts.
Describing the TTP as one of Pakistan's most serious security threats, Dar cited attacks on schools, mosques, markets and security installations. He also accused the separatist BLA of targeting civilians, security personnel and economic infrastructure.
Pakistan says more than 2,800 militant attacks since January have killed or injured around 3,000 people.
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, who spoke at the same event on Monday, blamed the rise in violence on militants based in Afghanistan, including the TTP.
Citing UN and independent assessments, Tarar said Afghanistan was home to more than 6,000 TTP fighters and over 20,000 militants in total.
He accused the TTP of using Afghan territory to recruit, train and plan attacks against Pakistan since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in 2021.