• In wide-ranging, marathon presser, ISPR chief terms Afghanistan ‘centre point’ where terrorists of all shades are being nurtured
• Says India has emerged as ‘biggest patron’ of Pakistan-focused terrorism
• Acknowledges strikes on TTP targets along Afghan border in October last year
• Defends border closure as advantageous to Pakistan
• Blames ‘political-terror nexus’ for KP situation
• Asserts law enforcers use drones only for surveillance
• Says Faiz was ‘used for politics’, not the institution

ISLAMABAD: Afghan­istan has become a hub of terrorists and non-state actors, as terrorists of different creeds operate from there, the military said on Tuesday, declaring the ruling Taliban “the mother organisation” which had been harbouring such groups since 2021.

In a wide-ranging and marathon press conference, Inter-Services Pub­lic Relations (ISPR) chief Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry bluntly accused the Kabul regime of organising the proscribed Tehreek-i-Taliban Paki­stan (TTP) in its own image, as well as imparting training and issuing directions to the terror outfit.

Although he said at the outset that the presser would remain focused on counterterrorism, the military’s spokesperson spoke at length about souring relations with Afghanistan, the belligerence being witnessed from India, as well as levelling criticism against the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Imran Khan, without explicitly naming the latter.

Listing 10 major incidents of terrorism in Pakistan in 2025, he said: “Who are involved in all of these high-impact [terror incidents]? They are all Afghans.”

The DG ISPR also said that Afghanistan had become a “centre point where terrorists of all kinds are being nurtured”.

He said that around 2,500 terrorists, who were neither Afghans nor Pakistanis, had recently reached Afghanistan from Syria.

He later elaborated, saying that terrorists, “whether it is Daesh, Al Qaeda, TTP, FAK, FAH, or ETIM, have no ideology, no nationality, humanity or ethnicity… They all have one father — the Afghan Taliban.”

Referring to the billions poured into Afghanistan by the US and other foreign donors, Lt Gen Chaudhry said that when that money stopped rolling in, the Afghan Taliban “spread the war in the form of terrorism across the entire region” to fund their war economy, finding “new patrons and financial sponsors, with the biggest patron for terrorism in Pakistan being India”.

“So the base of operations is being provided in Afghanistan by the Afghan Taliban and India’s money and patronage [is available].”

Referring to a chart, he said it could be deduced from the data that after Pakistan defeated India during their four-day conflict in May 2025, terrorism surged. After its defeat, “Indians immediately sought to influence non-state actors,” he said.

Moreover, he accused the political party in power in Pakistan in 2021 — ostensibly referring to the PTI — of “internally facilitating terrorists” and deciding to hold talks with them while a “great game was being played in Afghanistan”.

The DG highlighted how the data showed that terrorism began to rise in 2021.

Sharing data about suicide bombing incidents, he said a total of 27 had taken place in 2025. Of these, 16 occurred in KP, 10 in Balochistan, and one in Islamabad, at the judicial complex.

Positing why the majority of terror incidents took place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he answered his own question, saying: “The primary reason for this is the politically conducive environment provided [to terrorists], and the political-terror nexus that is flourishing in the province,” he said.

Later, during the Q&A with journalists, when asked whether the military leadership had any role in the 2021 “rehabilitation” policy and their accountability, and whether calling out only the political leadership would be “selective justice”, he refuted the claim that the military leadership had any input in the decision.

Action against Afghanistan

The ISPR chief also acknowledged that Pakistan had struck terrorist bases along the Pak-Afghan border in October — marking the first official admission of that action. Although Kabul had earlier accused Pakistan of carrying out the airstrikes, which it claimed had killed many civilians, Islamabad had not formally acknowledged the operation.

But in Tuesday’s presser, Lt Gen Chaudhry said that Pakistan had only targeted terrorists, not the Afghan Taliban or their posts.

“And what did the Afghan Taliban regime do, which is acting as a proxy and a base of operations for Indians? They attacked Pakistani posts, coming in direct support of the terrorists. So the state of Pakistan did what was necessary,” he said.

He also rubbished any parallels between India’s actions in May and Pakistan’s reprisals against Afg­hanistan in October, saying: “India targeted Pakistani citizens; Pakistan, however, did not target Afghans … We targeted our own citizens who were present there and involved in terrorism in Pakistan.”

He stressed that the border had been closed for a reason, which had also been communicated to Kabul.

At another point, when asked about Afghanistan’s demand for a separate trade pact to reopen the border, the ISPR chief stated that the border closure only had “advantages” for Pakistan and no losses, as terrorism was permeating through it.

Asked what the “long-term solution” for Afghanistan was, he said, “We will play all the cards, and we will engage with them where we have to in a hard manner. Where we have to engage them diplomatically, we will do that as well.”

Drone attacks

Speaking about technical surveillance and engagement, he said a narrative was created that Pakistan’s military was using drones.

But in fact, it was the terrorists who began using those armed quadcopters, he said, adding that 405 quadcopter attacks by the terrorists were reported from KP alone during the year.

“Their patron — India — provides them with funds, technical inventory and other assistance. So they have now started going into this armed quadcopter business. They also have a special wing for quadcopters in their organisations. They also use mosques, public places and houses as human shields.”

He explained that law enforcement bodies, including police and armed forces, were using drones only for technical surveillance.

Assailing activists

Talking about the India-Afghan Taliban nexus, he also played various clips from the Indian media as a portrayal of the “collusion”.

In this connection, he also mentioned those who “promoted terrorism under the guise of human rights and democracy.” He specifically cited a BUITEMS professor, who, he claimed, had confessed to being involved in terrorism.

The military spokesperson said the professor was defended by people in Pakistan and abroad, and showed social media posts by various users, including freelance journalist Kiyya Baloch, the Baloch Yakjehti Committee leader Mahrang Baloch, and human rights activist Imaan Zainab Mazari-Haazir.

The ISPR chief also rejected the impression that the fight against terrorism was being carried out in the pursuit of “dollars and minerals”.

He then said that the Afghan Taliban was not a government but a group that had occupied Afghanistan, under whose patronage more than a dozen terrorist organisations had been operating.

“Everyone knows this but the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government,” he said, and decried its leaders for opposing military operations in the province.

“No one can allow you to hand over your areas to terrorists for your politics and to facilitate whosoever.”

Faiz ‘used for politics’

During the subsequent Q&A, the ISPR DG referred to Imran Khan — without naming him — as someone who was “running his party like a dictator”, and said that it was his insistence to hold talks with the Afghan regime.

The ISPR chief also pointed out that the then-intelligence chief — referring to Faiz Hameed — was “used for politics”.

“You cannot put this [blame] on the institution; it was a field of characters,” he said.

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2026