ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Monday warned Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers that continued shelter for terrorists would eventually bring consequences for Kabul itself.
“If the Afghan government does not take action against terrorists, one day it will have to face the consequences itself,” Dar said while addressing the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) international conference on “Pakistan’s evolving terrorism landscape”.
Pakistan’s only demand from Afghanistan, he said, was that its soil should not be used to launch attacks against Pakistan.
Dar said cross-border terrorism had surged sharply since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, hitting Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan hardest. September 2026 saw 225 militant attacks across Pakistan, up 13 per cent from 199 in August and the highest monthly tally in 12 years, according to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies. Attacks have now risen for three straight months.
He described the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan as the gravest threat to the country’s security, saying it continued to enjoy external support. He cited the Jaffar Express attack and the abduction and killing of workers in Balochistan among recent incidents, and said militants now crossed the mountainous border, struck, and returned to safe havens.
Dar told the audience that counterterrorism operations were being carried out daily on the instructions of the Chief of Defence Forces and Army Chief, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir. He said Pakistan had lost more than 90,000 lives in the fight against terrorism and urged the international community to recognise those sacrifices.
He added that militants were now using drones, artificial intelligence, social media and cryptocurrency fundraising to organise, and cautioned that safe havens used against Pakistan today could threaten other countries tomorrow.
Pakistan has repeatedly raised the matter with Kabul, including at a trilateral meeting with China in Afghanistan last August, but the Taliban regime has not fulfilled its commitments, he said.
