Pakistan has warned that militant groups based in Afghanistan pose a major threat to its national security and to regional stability, citing Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as the most immediate danger.
Speaking at a UN Security Council meeting on Wednesday, Pakistan’s representative Asim Iftikhar Ahmad said the TTP, with an estimated 6,000 fighters, remains the country’s top security challenge. He added that the group cooperates with Baloch separatists, including the Balochistan Liberation Army, in attacks targeting strategic sites in Pakistan.
“The threat emanating from Afghanistan is not confined to Pakistan’s borders but also endangers international security,” Ahmad told the Council, which met to review the latest report by the UN secretary-general on the threat posed by the Islamic State group.
Council members separately warned that ISIS-Khorasan continues to pose a serious danger in Afghanistan, Europe and Central Asia. UN assessments estimate that ISIS-K has around 2,000 fighters in Afghanistan.
Ahmad said terrorism “within and from Afghanistan is the single most potent threat to that country, to the region, and the world.” While acknowledging that the Taliban are fighting ISIS-K, he said groups such as the TTP and armed Baloch militants continue to find shelter in ungoverned areas of Afghanistan.
The envoy also accused India of sponsoring terrorism inside Pakistan, alleging that New Delhi provides financial and logistical support to proxy groups in the region. India has consistently rejected such accusations.
Pakistan has repeatedly claimed the Afghan Taliban provide safe havens to TTP fighters, an allegation the Taliban deny, insisting Afghan soil will not be used against any country.
Earlier this month, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said Baloch insurgents and TTP militants were receiving financial and logistical support from Afghanistan and urged the Taliban to take decisive action against them.
A recent UN expert report cited the presence of several al-Qaeda-linked training camps across Afghanistan, including three newly identified sites where both al-Qaeda and TTP fighters are reportedly being trained.
