Taliban Reject UN, Pakistan Fears That Afghan Soil Harbours Terrorists

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.

The killings took place two days ago in Sultanpur village, Surkhrod district, according to residents who spoke to Afghanistan International. The victims were relatives of Isfandyar Talwar, a former soldier in Afghanistan’s special counterterrorism unit.

The Taliban’s police command in Nangarhar confirmed the incident on Wednesday, saying “unknown armed men” had attacked the home and killed six members of the family with firearms and knives. Reports said the dead included Talwar’s father, wife, three daughters and a son.

Taliban officials said an investigation had begun and that the bodies were transferred for forensic examination.
A source familiar with the case said Talwar and his family had no personal enmities. The killings have sparked widespread reaction across Afghan social media.

Talwar, who had been living abroad, reportedly returned to Afghanistan after learning of the attack.

The incident comes amid rising concern for the safety of former Afghan soldiers, following recent revelations of UK Ministry of Defence data breaches that exposed personal details of thousands of Afghans who had worked with British forces.

Rights groups and former officials have accused the Taliban of detaining, torturing and, in some cases, killing members of the former security forces despite the group’s promises of amnesty.

Senior UN counter-terrorism officials briefed the Council on Wednesday during a review of the latest report by the secretary-general on ISIS and its global threat to peace and security.

Vladimir Voronkov, UN under-secretary-general for counter-terrorism, said ISIS remains among the most dangerous security challenges, noting that the group is exploiting new technologies such as cryptocurrencies and encrypted networks to expand its operations.

Natalia Gherman, head of the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate, said ISIS-K is entrenched in Afghanistan while actively seeking recruits in Central Asia and Europe and soliciting funds through online propaganda.

Council members highlighted that the group’s increasing reliance on digital currencies has complicated efforts to disrupt its financial networks. They stressed that defeating ISIS-K would require broad international cooperation.

UN officials urged member states to adopt comprehensive, human-rights-based approaches and maintain global unity in the fight against terrorism.

The briefing also underscored that Africa remains heavily affected, with UN counter-terrorism chiefs warning the continent now faces the highest levels of ISIS activity worldwide.

In a recent report, UN experts wrote that the Taliban have provided a permissive environment for foreign terrorist groups in Afghanistan, heightening security concerns for Central Asia and beyond. The report added that multiple training camps linked to al-Qaeda are operating inside the country.

In each incident, names and personal information of dozens of individuals were disclosed, the ministry said. According to a BBC investigation, seven of the breaches were classified as serious and referred to the Information Commissioner’s Office, the UK’s data protection watchdog. Three of those cases had not previously been made public.

One of the most serious breaches occurred in 2022, when the personal data of nearly 19,000 Afghan former employees and collaborators of British forces was leaked. The disclosure prompted the government to launch a secret programme to bring thousands of Afghans to safety. More than 6,000 were eventually resettled in the UK under the initiative.

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps has apologised for the disclosures, acknowledging that the leaks placed Afghan allies at risk of Taliban reprisals.

The controversy has been further inflamed by reports in The Telegraph that some former Taliban fighters were flown to Britain on humanitarian evacuation flights. Among those relocated were individuals with records of sexual offences, corruption and imprisonment. Sources alleged that corrupt Afghan officials had helped place Taliban fighters on evacuation lists.

Experts warn that the breaches and alleged infiltration could endanger Afghan families who assisted British forces. Lawyers representing affected Afghans have accused the MoD of widespread negligence. The ministry insists it takes data security seriously and has implemented reforms since the incidents.

A former deputy defence minister described the leaks as a “devastating mistake.”

The fallout has continued for weeks in Britain. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said former Conservative ministers must answer questions over the breaches.

Separately, a Daily Telegraph investigation reported that since the February 2022 leaks, more than 200 former Afghan soldiers and police officers have been identified and killed by the Taliban.

The governor’s office in Balkh province announced Thursday that reconstruction had begun on the memorial in Mazar-e-Sharif, with a budget of 1.5 million Afghanis. The project will include restoring the statue, creating green spaces, building a recreational area, establishing a library and installing information boards about Nava’i’s life and works, officials said.

The move followed contacts between Uzbekistan’s Foreign Ministry and Taliban officials. Tashkent said the Taliban had expressed regret over the statue’s destruction and promised to construct a more elaborate complex dedicated to the 15th-century poet, scholar and statesman.

Abdul Rahman Hemmat, the Taliban mayor of Mazar-e-Sharif, said the project would be completed within a month. Uzbek diplomats, Taliban foreign ministry representatives in the north and other officials attended the inauguration of the work, according to Uzbekistan’s Foreign Ministry.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Akhror Burkhanov said Tashkent immediately sought clarification after the statue’s demolition. Taliban officials reportedly responded that the location was “not worthy” of commemorating such a figure and that a more prominent memorial was needed. They assured Uzbek officials that Nava’i’s legacy was important for Afghanistan as well as Uzbekistan.

The statue had stood in Mazar-e-Sharif for around 17 years before it was torn down, provoking widespread criticism. Rahila Dostum, daughter of Uzbek leader Abdul Rashid Dostum, called the demolition a “symbol of the Taliban’s hostility toward the country’s cultural heritage.” Civil and social groups representing Afghanistan’s Turkic community also condemned it as part of what they described as the Taliban’s “anti-cultural and identity-erasing policies.”

It was not the first such incident. In 2022, the Taliban demolished another statue of Nava’i in the city, drawing criticism from Afghan citizens and Uzbekistan. At the time, Taliban officials similarly assured Tashkent that the memorial would be restored.

Amir Ali-Shir Nava’i, a celebrated figure of the Timurid era, is regarded as the founder of Chagatai literature and remains an influential cultural icon across Central Asia.