For many years, Pakistan’s policy toward Kabul was defined by restraint and endless patience. That phase has ended. In a media briefing held on Monday, the military’s spokesman bluntly declared that Islamabad will no longer treat Afghan “conditions” as any kind of diktat. “Our own armed forces guarantee our security,” he stressed, marking a sharp departure from the ambivalent diplomacy of earlier years. The state is now openly accusing the Afghan Taliban of sheltering and enabling militants who attack Pakistan. Officials say Afghan fighters are crossing borders disguised as civilians and that these networks have roots deep inside Pakistani cities. This claim cannot be ignored.
Last August alone saw 143 terrorist attacks that killed 194 people. It was the bloodiest month in more than ten years. Independent records show a forty-five per cent rise in deaths from terrorism in 2024. Most attacks were carried out by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has suffered the most, with about seventy per cent of incidents. Militants retreat into Afghan territory while officials argue about procedure. The result is a simmering insurgency that keeps returning after every peace plan.
Islamabad has begun to move beyond words. Parliament has expanded the Anti-Terrorism Act to give security forces greater powers. Since the Taliban’s return to Kabul, Pakistan’s operations have eliminated more fighters in four years than in the previous decade. This shows that the state can respond when it decides to. Yet power without planning cannot end the threat. The response must now be guided by clarity and strategy.
Diplomatically, Pakistan has started to use trade and border management as tools of pressure. The government is reaching out to China, the Gulf states, and international forums like the OIC and the United Nations to build pressure on Kabul. However, the Taliban leadership has also begun to lean toward China and India. India’s invitation to the Taliban foreign minister after the border clashes was a calculated move. It signalled that regional politics are changing and that Pakistan must navigate with precision.
Words from Kabul about not allowing Afghan soil to be used against Pakistan mean little while bodies keep arriving in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. If the Taliban cannot control these elements, it must face consequences. Trade and transit rights should depend on visible action against terror networks. At the same time, Pakistan must fix what lies within. Weak policing, unregulated madrassas, and a slow justice system continue to feed resentment.
Pakistan also needs stronger global partnerships. It should ask China and the United States to expose and sanction those funding the TTP and the BLA. The recent American decision to list the BLA’s Majeed Brigade as terrorists at Pakistan’s request is a step in the right direction. Cooperation must now expand to cover Islamic State Khorasan and other networks that endanger the entire region. Pakistan’s message should be clear. It will defend itself, seek allies against terrorism, and expect accountability from Kabul. *