On the morning of November 11, 2025, the heart of Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, was rocked by a deadly suicide bombing outside a district court. The attack, which claimed the lives of 12 people and left 27 more wounded, marked the second such incident within two days in the country. Just a day earlier, a suicide attacker had rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the main gate of a military school in South Waziristan, a volatile region near the Afghan border, killing three people and triggering a harrowing siege. The series of attacks has reignited fierce debate and deepened rifts between Pakistan and its neighbor, Afghanistan, as officials on both sides trade accusations and warnings, and the international community looks on with growing unease.
Pakistani authorities have moved quickly to assign blame. On November 13, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi told his country’s parliament that both suicide bombers involved in the attacks had been identified as Afghan nationals. According to The Cradle, Naqvi reiterated longstanding allegations that Afghanistan’s Taliban government is harboring militant groups, using Afghan territory as a safe haven to organize sabotage activities against Pakistan. "Afghanistan's involvement is a serious concern," Naqvi stressed before the National Assembly, highlighting the mounting tensions between Islamabad and Kabul over border security and the activities of militant organizations.
The attack on the military school in South Waziristan was particularly chilling. After the initial explosion at the school’s main gate, heavily armed militants stormed the campus, engaging Pakistani soldiers in a fierce battle that lasted more than 24 hours. Approximately 500 civilian students and staff were trapped in another part of the complex during the fighting, their fate uncertain as gunfire and explosions echoed through the compound. In the aftermath, Pakistani security forces managed to kill the attackers, but the psychological scars left on the survivors—and the nation as a whole—remain raw.
Despite the gravity of the incidents, no group has claimed responsibility for the Islamabad court attack. However, suspicion has fallen squarely on militant organizations operating from Afghan soil. Pakistani officials accuse Kabul of harboring members of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistani Taliban, and using them as proxies to destabilize Pakistan. The government in Islamabad has also pointed a finger at India, alleging that New Delhi supports militants targeting Pakistan—a claim that adds another layer of complexity to the already fraught regional dynamics.
The Pakistani Taliban have denied any involvement in the recent attacks. Yet, for Islamabad, the denials ring hollow. As Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif declared following the bombings, "We are in a state of war. Bringing this war to Islamabad is a message from Kabul, to which Pakistan has the full power to respond." His words, reported by The Cradle, underscore the sense of siege and determination that now pervades the Pakistani leadership.
Afghanistan’s Taliban government, for its part, has categorically rejected the accusations. On November 13, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid insisted that Afghan authorities have conducted numerous operations against terrorist groups and have neutralized or arrested many Pakistani citizens on Afghan soil. He argued that the mere discovery of a Pakistani suspect in Afghanistan does not mean the Pakistani people or government are responsible for security issues in Afghanistan, and called on Pakistan to "not make baseless accusations" but instead to cooperate on security. As Mujahid put it, "Pakistan should not make baseless accusations and should cooperate on security instead of blaming each other." (VOV)
The latest violence comes against a backdrop of failed diplomacy and mounting mistrust. Earlier this month, peace talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan, mediated by Turkey and Qatar in Istanbul, collapsed without agreement. The negotiations, which followed ten days of intense border clashes in October, foundered on what Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi described as Pakistan’s "unreasonable" demands that Kabul guarantee security inside Pakistan. Afghan officials maintain that curbing the TTP is beyond their control, while Islamabad insists that Kabul must act decisively to rein in the militants.
These diplomatic failures are not occurring in a vacuum. The broader context is one of unfulfilled promises and deepening suspicion. As columnist Tania Wafa argued in a recent piece published on November 14, 2025, the Taliban regime has systematically failed to honor its commitments under the Doha Agreement, which obligated it to pursue peace through intra-Afghan dialogue and prevent Afghanistan from being used as a terrorist base. Instead, Wafa contends, the Taliban have intensified their military insurgency, formed an exclusionary regime banning female education, and provided safe havens to groups like Al-Qaeda and the TTP. She cites UN reports that detail Taliban support to TTP fighters—including guest houses, movement passes, and immunity from arrest—and estimates from SIGAR that 6,000 to 6,500 TTP fighters are currently sheltered in Afghanistan.
Wafa’s assessment is bleak: "The Taliban aren’t just turning a blind eye; they are active facilitators. This state-sponsored support has direct and bloody consequences for its neighbors." She points to the trilateral agreement between the Taliban, Pakistan, and the UAE, under which the Taliban took money to relocate TTP terrorists but made only a symbolic effort, moving a few hundred fighters without any monitoring mechanisms. The result, she argues, has been a surge in terror attacks in Pakistan, with Pakistani security forces reportedly killing hundreds of Afghan nationals in counter-terror operations—a fact that, in her view, underscores the Taliban’s complicity.
Yet, the Taliban regime faces challenges at home as well as abroad. Internal resistance is mounting, most notably from the National Resistance Front (NRF), which has intensified operations against Taliban forces. A recent NRF attack near Herat killed two Taliban militants without any losses to the resistance, signaling that the group’s grip on power is far from secure. Wafa notes that the return of figures like Ismail Khan, the “Lion of Herat,” to the resistance fold points to a deepening instability that the Taliban cannot easily dismiss.
The international community, meanwhile, finds itself in a bind. Despite clear evidence of the Taliban’s failure to curb terrorism, the regime continues to receive millions of dollars in aid each month. Wafa warns that continued funding of the Taliban amounts to "funding a sinking ship that is determined to take regional security down with it," and calls for punitive measures if the regime continues to harbor terrorists and lose control to resistance groups.
Against this backdrop of violence, broken promises, and diplomatic deadlock, the stakes for Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the broader region could hardly be higher. As officials on both sides dig in and accusations fly, the path to genuine security and stability remains elusive. For the people caught in the crossfire—students trapped in besieged schools, families mourning lost loved ones, and communities living in fear—the need for real solutions, not just rhetoric, has never been more urgent.
