“Since 2022, more than 214 Afghan terrorists, including suicide bombers, have been neutralized in Pakistan”
Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad Photo: APP
Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad told the UN Security Council on Wednesday that terrorism from Afghan soil poses the “gravest threat” to Pakistan’s security as the Taliban supports terrorist groups and allows them to cross the border safely with impunity and freely.
“Afghanistan is once again a safe haven for terrorist groups and their proxies, with devastating consequences and growing security challenges for its immediate neighbors, particularly Pakistan, and the region and beyond,” Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the UN, said during a debate on the situation there.
“Terrorist entities, including ISIL-K, Al-Qaeda, TTP, ETIM, BLA and Majeed Brigade, enjoy safe havens within Afghan territory, with dozens of terrorist camps allowing cross-border infiltration and violent attacks, including suicide bombings,” he said, adding that there was evidence of collaboration between these terrorist groups through joint training, illicit arms trade, safe haven terrorists and coordinated attacks against Pakistan using Afghan soil.
“And unsurprisingly, an opportunistic and disruptive critic of the region, as always, has moved quickly to intensify its sponsorship of terrorist activities through material, technical and financial support, to terrorist groups and their proxies active against Pakistan from Afghan soil,” the Pakistani envoy said in an obvious reference to India, whose relations with the Taliban have improved significantly, leading to the reopening of the Indian embassy in Kabul.
Indeed, India’s speech to the Council contrasted sharply with its past denunciation of the Taliban’s policies. India, Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish said, “deeply values its centuries-old civilizational relations and bonds of friendship with Afghanistan, and this history continues to guide our actions to forge deeper ties” with Afghans.
In his speech, Ambassador Asim Ahmad, the Pakistani envoy, said that Pakistan had regularly engaged with the Taliban authorities over the past four years, but unfortunately, instead of seeing them take concrete, effective and decisive measures against the terrorist groups, “we have witnessed a sharp increase in terrorist attacks against Pakistan; planned, financed and orchestrated using Afghan soil under their supervision.”
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“This year alone, we have lost nearly 1,200 lives to terrorism from Afghanistan. Since 2022, more than 214 Afghan terrorists, including suicide bombers, have been neutralized in Pakistan during counter-terrorism operations.”
He linked border clashes directly to terrorism and security, and urged UNAMA (United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan) to provide an objective assessment of border security.
Pakistan supported the dialogue process in Doha and Istanbul, the Pakistani envoy said. But if the Taliban does not take concrete and verifiable measures against terrorist groups, Pakistan will take all necessary defensive measures.
Having hosted Afghan refugees for over four decades, Pakistan also believes that Afghans should return to their country in a dignified and orderly manner, he added.
Ambassador Asim Ahmad also said that the Taliban’s continued restrictions on women and girls were “incompatible with Islamic traditions and norms of Muslim society, as also emphasized by OIC countries on several occasions.”
Pakistan, he said, fully shares the concerns of the international community on the issue of human rights, particularly the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan.
“No country desires peace and stability in Afghanistan more than Pakistan,” the Pakistani envoy added, urging the Taliban to promote an environment conducive to sincere dialogue, address Pakistan’s legitimate security concerns and move out of a “state of denial” that serves no one.
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For her part, the United States delegate declared: “Quite simply, the Taliban are not good faith interlocutors and they do not care about the well-being of the Afghan people. » They (the Taliban) are manipulating international support, ignoring the basic needs of Afghans and showing an unwillingness to respect their international commitments.
If the Taliban prevents the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) from carrying out its tasks, then the Council should consider realigning its mandate with that reality, she said.
Addressing the 15-member Council, the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan, Georgette Gagnon, and the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, said that almost half of the population will need protection and humanitarian assistance in 2026.
“Women and girls remain ‘systematically excluded’ from almost all aspects of public life,” Gagnon said, as the ban on secondary and tertiary education for girls now enters its fourth year, depriving the country of future doctors, teachers and leaders.
“Media freedom is increasingly restricted. Journalists face intimidation, detention and censorship, reducing the space for public debate and public participation,” she added.
Afghans – women and men – also face daily intrusions under the de facto authorities’ law on “propagation of virtue and prevention of vice”, she added, describing a trend of systematic interference in privacy.
At the same time, humanitarian needs are increasing. Fletcher, the UN humanitarian chief, said almost 22 million people will need aid next year, with Afghanistan now one of the world’s biggest humanitarian crises.
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“For the first time in four years, the number of people facing hunger has increased,” he warned. Some 17.4 million Afghans now face food insecurity, while massive funding cuts have left the response “stretched to the breaking point”.
More than 300 nutrition distribution points have closed, leaving 1.1 million children without life-saving nutrition, while 1.7 million of them face death without treatment. The health system is also collapsing: 422 health facilities were closed in 2025, depriving three million people of vital care.
To make matters worse, Afghanistan has seen record refugee returns, with more than 2.6 million Afghans returning in 2025 alone, bringing the two-year total to more than four million. Most arrive with few possessions and are absorbed into already poor communities.
“Women and children accounted for 60% of all returns this year,” Fletcher noted, returning to a country where women lack access to education, work and, in some cases, health care.
