No Peace Through Engagement Until Taliban Regime Ends Terror Sanctuaries In Afghanistan

Engagement with the Taliban regime has delivered diplomatic space without verifiable action against terrorist groups operating from Afghan soil. Pakistan has exhausted diplomatic channels, yet cross-border terrorism continues to threaten regional security and stability. The lesson is clear: no amount of dialogue can substitute for action. Meaningful connectivity and lasting peace require the Taliban regime to dismantle terrorist infrastructure and provide verifiable counterterrorism guarantees.

Pakistan’s position is not built on conjecture. It rests on the findings of the international community’s own monitoring mechanisms. The 37th report of the UN Security Council’s Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team found that Afghanistan’s de facto authorities continued to provide a “permissive environment” for several armed groups, notably TTP. The same report observed that TTP was given more freedom and backing by the Taliban, and that its attacks on Pakistan rose as a result, deepening regional tensions.

The picture grows darker. According to the UN Monitoring Team, al-Qaeda continues to enjoy patronage in Afghanistan and is training and advising the TTP, while weapons stockpiles left behind by US and NATO forces have made TTP attacks in Pakistan deadlier. Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent’s leadership is reportedly based in Kabul, with its media team operating from Herat. This is not a regime struggling to control its territory. It is a regime that has chosen which terrorists to tolerate.

The Taliban’s standard response, blanket denial, has been rejected by the UN itself. The 16th Monitoring Team report stated that the Taliban’s claim of no terrorist groups on Afghan soil does not match intelligence shared by multiple member states, noted that their approach to groups other than Daesh-Khorasan has been lenient, and identified TTP as the most serious threat to regional security, particularly for Pakistan. Independent American assessments say the same. The US Lead Inspector General’s report to Congress for January to March 2026 concluded that the Taliban kept allowing TTP to operate from Afghan territory and that this support fuelled more attacks on Pakistan, estimating TTP strength at four to six thousand fighters.

Those who accuse Pakistan of hostility toward Afghanistan, or who dismiss its concerns as exaggerated, must answer a simple question: if the UN, the US Inspector General and regional states all document terrorist sanctuaries in Afghanistan, on what basis do they ask Pakistan to keep absorbing the cost in blood? Such critics offer the Taliban a diplomatic shield while Pakistani soldiers and civilians pay the price. Their arguments collapse under the weight of the evidence.

Instead of addressing these documented facts, Kabul has resorted to deflection. Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting stated that blaming Pakistan’s security institutions does not relieve the regime of its duty to stop Afghan soil from being used for terrorism against Pakistan. Repeated infiltration attempts, Afghan nationals killed during counter-terrorism operations, and the recovery of foreign-origin weapons from terrorists all point in one direction.

Pakistan’s measures are directed against terrorists, not the Afghan people. Peace and prosperity on both sides of the border are interlinked, and regional connectivity projects, trade corridors and transit routes hold enormous promise for Afghans. But connectivity cannot run through a terrorist sanctuary. No investor, no corridor and no partnership can survive in an environment where armed groups plan attacks with impunity.

Pakistan remains open to responsible engagement grounded in mutual respect, verifiable commitments and concrete action against sanctuaries, support networks and cross-border infiltration. The burden now lies squarely on Kabul. Engagement without accountability has failed. Until the Taliban regime dismantles TTP, BLA and their affiliates and offers guarantees that can be verified, dialogue will remain an empty exercise, and Pakistan will continue to take every necessary measure to protect its citizens, sovereignty and territorial integrity.

SAT Commentary

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