At the United Nations Security Council in New York this week, Pakistan issued its sharpest warning yet to the Taliban regime, demanding that Afghanistan’s rulers take immediate, concrete, and verifiable action against terrorist groups operating from Afghan territory. If the Taliban fail to act, Islamabad says it will not hesitate to take all necessary defensive measures to protect its citizens, sovereignty, and borders—a threat that underscores the deepening security crisis between the two neighbors.
Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, delivered this message during a high-profile session on December 10 and 11, 2025. Addressing the Security Council, Ahmad minced no words: “The Taliban must take concrete and verifiable action against terrorist groups based on their soil, failing which Pakistan will take all necessary defensive measures for the protection of its citizens, territory and sovereignty.” According to the 24NewsHD TV channel and corroborated by multiple international sources, Ahmad’s remarks reflect mounting frustration in Islamabad over what it sees as the Taliban’s unwillingness—or inability—to rein in militants who have found safe haven in Afghanistan since the U.S. withdrawal.
Pakistan’s warning comes against a backdrop of escalating violence. In 2025 alone, nearly 1,200 Pakistanis have lost their lives to terrorist attacks emanating from Afghanistan, as Ambassador Ahmad reported to the Security Council. These attacks, he said, are “planned, financed and orchestrated using Afghan soil under their watch.” Since 2022, Pakistan’s counterterrorism operations have neutralized over 214 Afghan terrorists, including suicide bombers, but the threat remains acute.
The epicenter of Islamabad’s concern is the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a UN-designated terrorist group that, according to the UN Monitoring Team, has nearly 6,000 fighters based in Afghanistan. But TTP is hardly alone. Other groups—including ISIL-K (Daesh-K), Al-Qaeda, East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), and the Majeed Brigade—are said to enjoy safe havens across the border. “Terrorist entities including ISIL-K, Al-Qaeda, TTP, ETIM, BLA and Majeed Brigade enjoy safe havens in Afghanistan’s territory, with dozens of terrorist camps enabling cross-border infiltration and violent attacks including suicide bombings,” Ahmad told the Security Council, as reported by both 24NewsHD and other regional outlets.
What makes the situation even more volatile, Pakistani officials say, is credible evidence of collaboration among these groups. According to Ahmad, “There is credible evidence of collaboration among these terrorist groups through joint training, illicit weapons trade, refuge to terrorists, and coordinated attacks against Pakistan using the Afghan soil.” The sophistication and frequency of attacks have been amplified, Pakistani authorities argue, by caches of modern military-grade equipment left behind by departing international forces in Afghanistan—equipment that has since been confiscated during thwarted infiltration attempts.
Pakistan’s frustration is compounded by what it describes as the Taliban’s failure to honor its counterterrorism commitments. “Initial reservations of the international community gradually proved true, becoming more pronounced with the passage of time. Today, Afghanistan is once again a safe sanctuary for terrorist groups and proxies, with devastating consequences and mounting security challenges for its immediate neighbours, particularly Pakistan, and the region and beyond,” Ahmad said, echoing a sentiment widely shared in Islamabad.
Diplomatic engagement, meanwhile, has yielded little progress. Pakistan has conducted a series of high-level visits to Afghanistan in 2025, facilitated humanitarian relief, and offered trade and transit concessions. It has also participated in regional processes and rounds of talks in Doha and Istanbul, with the support of Qatar and Türkiye. But, as Ahmad put it, despite “every effort to engage with the Taliban authorities,” the results have been disappointing. Talks in Türkiye reportedly collapsed after Pakistan refused to accept what it called the Taliban delegation’s “illogical” arguments regarding cross-border terrorism, though mediators persuaded both sides to uphold a temporary ceasefire agreement reached in Qatar.
The October 2025 border clashes between Taliban forces and Pakistani troops further strained relations. The violence, which erupted on the night of October 11-12, led to the deaths of over 200 Taliban and affiliated militants, while 23 Pakistani soldiers were killed. In response, Pakistan conducted “precision strikes” inside Afghanistan, targeting terrorist hideouts in Kandahar province and Kabul. A 48-hour ceasefire was eventually brokered, followed by further talks, but the underlying issues remain unresolved.
Beyond security, the crisis has significant humanitarian and socio-economic dimensions. For over four decades, Pakistan has hosted millions of Afghan refugees. Ahmad reminded the Security Council, “For over four decades, Pakistan welcomed with open arms, millions of Afghan refugees despite its own constraints and inadequate international support.” Now, with the end of major conflict in Afghanistan, Islamabad expects “that Afghans will now return to their country of origin in a dignified, phased and orderly manner.” Since September 2023, Pakistan has issued over 536,000 visas to Afghans for medical cases alone, but officials insist that indefinite stays are unsustainable and that the international community must do more to share the burden.
The broader picture in Afghanistan is grim. Ahmad described a nation beset by “sanctions, a dysfunctional banking system, diminishing aid, poverty, terrorism, narcotics production, and human rights violations”—a situation he attributes in large part to Taliban policies. Pakistan, he said, “fully shares the concerns of the international community on the issue of human rights, particularly women and girls rights in Afghanistan.” The Taliban’s continued restrictions on women and girls, Ahmad noted, are “inconsistent with Islamic traditions and norms of Muslim society as also highlighted by OIC countries.”
To address these interlocking crises, Pakistan is urging the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) to step up its efforts to prevent the illicit trade and destabilizing accumulation of small arms and light weapons in Afghanistan and the wider region. Islamabad also wants UNAMA to provide an objective assessment of the border security situation and to play a more active role in facilitating dialogue.
Despite the current impasse, Pakistan maintains that it desires a peaceful, stable, and prosperous Afghanistan—one at peace with itself and its neighbors. “No country desires peace and stability in Afghanistan more than Pakistan,” Ahmad declared. But, he warned, “We hope the Taliban will promote a conducive environment for sincere dialogue that is sensitive to our legitimate security concerns, stop working at cross purposes and come out of a state of denial, which serves no one’s interest.”
As regional tensions simmer and international attention shifts elsewhere, Islamabad’s message at the UN is clear: the status quo is untenable, and the window for a diplomatic solution is closing fast. Whether the Taliban will heed this warning—and whether the international community will step up—remains to be seen. For now, the fate of peace and stability along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border hangs in the balance.