Even though Pakistan faces a significant political, security, and strategic difficulty in dealing with terrorist groups in Afghanistan, it is not a good idea to ignore the issue as terrorist organisations would continue their deadly campaign in this nation until they are forcefully stopped.
It is obvious that targeting militant organizations within Afghanistan on its own comes with a set of challenges and carries the risk of further eroding relations with the Taliban, who now hold sway over the country, as well as losing any influence Pakistan may have over them. This is why the state is frustrated with the Afghan Taliban, as evidenced by the defense minister’s recent remarks. Referring to Afghanistan as “the source of terrorism” in Pakistan, Khawaja Asif said on X that “cooperation from Kabul.is not available” in the fight against terrorism.
Right now, Pakistan has limited viable options. But the government should not give up on using diplomatic channels with Afghanistan, and it should be clear that any militant organisations wreaking havoc within this nation would face harsh consequences. Despite the Afghan Taliban’s constant denials that terrorists are using their territory, it is widely acknowledged by the international world that militants are indeed operational within Afghanistan. The secretary general’s special representative for Afghanistan stated that “there are well-founded concerns over the presence of terrorist groups” inside Afghanistan, including IS and TTP, and that the nation “has long been the source of instability and terrorism” during a briefing of the UN Security Council earlier this month.
These are the very same reasons Pakistan has presented to the world. Additionally, according to certain media sources, Taliban representatives have acknowledged that there are “places that might be out of our control” near the Pakistani border. The Taliban must impose order over these “out of control” areas if they hope to gain international legitimacy, and Kabul’s counterterrorism efforts should have support from the international community as well as Afghanistan’s neighbours. However, it is also true that the TTP and the Afghan Taliban share similar ideologies, therefore it would be unrealistic to expect the former to destroy the latter. Making ensuring that the TTP doesn’t damage Pakistan is something the Taliban can and should do. Should Kabul’s authorities fall short on this front, there will be good reason to suspect they are unofficially aiding and abetting the terrorist actions of the TTP.
As previously said in these columns, all of Afghanistan’s neighbours, especially Pakistan, Iran, China, the Central Asian republics, and Russia, need to coordinate their approaches against militant groups in Afghanistan in addition to engaging bilaterally. In this manner, the message to the Taliban will be sent from all capitals, and maybe they will learn from their mistakes from 2001. China has placed a strong focus on “patient communication with Afghan authorities,” for instance. Compared to the other restricted options available to Pakistan and Afghanistan’s other neighbours, this one might be simpler.