• Pakistan says Kabul complicit in TTP’s escalating cross-border attacks
• UN envoy notes de facto Afghan rulers failing to honour international obligations

UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has warned the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) that Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is rapidly evolving into an umbrella organisation for multiple terrorist groups in the region, posing a serious threat to regional and global security.

Speaking during the UN Security Council (UNSC) briefing on Afghanistan in New York on Monday, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Munir Akam warned that the TTP having patronage of the Taliban rulers was emerging as an umbrella organisation for other terrorist groups, whose objectives, he said, were the destabilisation of Afghanistan’s neighbours.

In fact, he added, the greatest threat to security and stability in Afghanistan and the entire region, and indeed the world arises from the over 20 terrorist organisations present in Afghanistan.

Noting that the Taliban government was not effective in fighting its challenger, Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant-Khorasan (ISIL-K), also called Daesh in the region, the Pakistani envoy referred to the numerous attacks claimed by Daesh inside Afghanistan as well as its attacks in Russia, Iran and more recently in Peshawar.

However, Ambassador Akram made it clear that Pakistan “will continue to take all necessary measures to eliminate the terrorist threats to our national security in accordance with our right to self-defence under international law and in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the Security Council”.

UN’s envoy

Earlier opening the debate, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan Roza Otunbayeva said the Taliban were failing to honour their international obligations of not allowing the Afghan territory to be used for cross-border attacks. She highlighted concerns over the presence of armed groups like the TTP in Afghanistan. She took note of the continued activity by ISIL-KP and TTP and pointed to legitimate questions about the de facto authorities’ commitment or ability to uphold their own guarantees that Afghanistan will not become a threat to other countries.

“TTP remains a regional concern,” she said. She added that the ISIL-K continued to operate in and from Afghanistan, carrying out deadly suicide bombings.

The Pakistani diplomat said TTP and its affiliates carried out a series of cross-border terrorist attacks on Pakistan’s soil, noting that the group had access to weapons originating in the stock left behind by foreign forces, which were led by the United States.

Highlighting the threat posed by the 6,000-strong TTP, Ambassador Akam told the Security Council that the Kabul authorities were complicit in the conduct of the terrorist organisation’s cross-border attacks against Pakistan.

“The TTP also receives external support and financing from our principal adversary,” he told the 15-member council in an obvious reference to India.

He said the TTP was collaborating with other terrorist groups seeking to destabilise Pakistan and disrupt its economic cooperation with China through their terrorist campaign.

Operatives caught

However, Ambassador Akram told the delegates that Pakistan successfully foiled attempts by ISIL-K terrorists to cross over from Afghanistan and prevented its external operations branch from establishing itself in Pakistan, detaining several high-profile operatives involved in the Kerman and Crocus attacks. “Among those detained was an individual named Muhammad Sharifullah, an Afghan, who plotted the Abbey Gate bombing during the US evacuation from Afghanistan in 2021.” In his State of the Union address, President Donald Trump lauded Pakistan for arresting Sharifullah, the alleged plotter, of the Kabul airport bombing.

The Pakistani envoy said the Kabul authorities had failed to address the threat posed to the region and beyond by TTP and other terrorist groups, such as Al-Qaeda, Balochistan Liberation Army, Majeed Brigade, which all were present in Afghanistan.

Pakistan, he said, would continue to take all necessary measures to eliminate the terrorist threats to its national security in accordance with our right to self-defence under international law and in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the Security Council.

Referring to the human rights situation in Afghanistan, Ambassador Akram said that instead of fulfilling its earlier commitments, the Kabul government has doubled down on its restrictions against women and girls. “These are inconsistent with international norms and obligations and contrary to the laws and teachings of Islam,” he said.

Ambassador Akram said as neighbours the destinies of Afghanistan and Pakistan are intertwined, “The people of Pakistan are deeply sensitive to the suffering of their Afghan brothers and sisters,” he said, expressing steadfast commitment to support all efforts at the bilateral, regional and global level to achieve peace, stability and development in Afghanistan.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2025