PESHAWAR: In what is being interpreted as a tac­it acknowledgement of Pak­­istan’s grouse with Ka­­bul, the leader of a notorious terrorist outfit has reportedly urged his ‘commanders’ to avoid recruiting and deploying foreign fighters — most notably Afghans — to fight in Pakistan, warning of serious consequences if his instructions are violated.

The instruction was rel­ayed by Hafiz Gul Baha­dur, who heads the so-cal­led Ittehadul Mujahideen Pakistan, in an audio message released to his cadres a few days ago, The Khorasan Diary reported.

This also seems to fly in the face of Kabul’s stance that the terrorist threat plaguing Pakistan is “an internal problem”.

The issue of Afghan soil and fighters being used to stage terrorist attacks in Pakistan has remained a critical bone of contention between Islamabad and Afghanistan, escalating into border skirmishes and leading to the eventual closure of the Pak-Afghan border in October last year.

In recent months, Pakis­tan’s civilian and military leadership has maintained that the terrorism plaguing the country originated from Afghanistan.

The instruction from Gul Bahadur comes in the backdrop of pressure from the Afghan Taliban on their Pakistani comrades — in the face of rising international pressure — and follows a decree by a council of religious scholars, pledging that Afghan soil would not be used against a foreign country.

Issued in Kabul early last month, the decree followed a similar statement by the Afghan Taliban su­­preme leader Hibatul­lah Akhundzada, which had largely gone unheeded.

Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2026