Tolatbek Musadikov, Deputy Secretary-General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), has warned that threats emanating from Afghanistan have not yet been eliminated. He said that instability in the country continues to endanger the borders of CSTO member states.
Speaking on Wednesday at the Third Eurasian Security International Conference in Minsk, Musadikov said large-scale and potentially escalating conflicts were unfolding near the CSTO’s area of responsibility, including Afghanistan, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe.
“The situation in Afghanistan remains tense, and its challenges and threats have not yet been resolved,” he said, as quoted by Russia’s state news agency TASS.
Musadikov also noted that Western countries, in pursuit of geopolitical interests, are employing “complex forms of warfare” and new technologies, including artificial intelligence, to manipulate information and spread “fake and provocative content.”
The CSTO, a Moscow-led military alliance that includes Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, has repeatedly expressed concern about security risks emanating from Afghanistan, particularly the presence of extremist groups such as ISIS and radical Central Asian groups.
CSTO member states, especially Tajikistan, have voiced alarm over the possibility of militant infiltration and instability spilling across their borders since the Taliban takeover in 2021.
Fighting has again broken out among Taliban forces in Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province.
Local sources reported renewed clashes early Wednesday in the Shahr-e-Buzurg district between Taliban units and fighters loyal to Abdul Rahman Ammar, the group’s former provincial head of mining.
Sources told Afghanistan International that casualties have not yet been confirmed, but Ammar’s fighters are currently surrounded by Taliban reinforcements sent to the area.
Fasihuddin Fitrat, the Taliban’s army chief of staff, reportedly travelled to Badakhshan on Tuesday to mediate and end the conflict. However, according to multiple sources, his efforts have so far failed to halt the fighting.
Ammar’s loyalists are said to have taken defensive positions in the mountains around Shahr-e-Buzurg, where the former commander enjoys significant local support.
The clashes, which have continued for several days, pit Ammar’s forces against those of Shafiqullah Hafizi, the Taliban’s current head of mining in Badakhshan, in what sources describe as a dispute over control of lucrative gold mines. Ammar is believed to have backing from senior Taliban figures, including Fitrat.
The Taliban authorities have not commented publicly on the confrontation.
On Monday, Taliban border battalion troops reportedly fought against Ammar’s forces in support of Hafizi. Additional reinforcements were later dispatched from the provincial capital to contain the violence.
Earlier reports from Badakhshan suggested that at least three people had been killed, including two fighters loyal to Ammar and one Taliban officer identified as Abdul Alim Hamidi, commander of operations for the group’s 1st Brigade. Taliban units are now said to be pursuing the “rebel commander.”
Both Ammar and Hafizi are influential Taliban figures in Badakhshan. Although Ammar no longer holds an official post, he is regarded as a powerful local commander with his own loyal fighters and funding network.
Since taking power, the Taliban have prioritised mining operations across Afghanistan. In Badakhshan, in particular, competition among commanders for control and profit from the province’s natural resources has repeatedly led to internal clashes.
The Taliban’s Supreme Court said on Wednesday that two women and three men were publicly flogged in Afghanistan’s Ghor and Balkh provinces on charges of “moral corruption” and “alcohol trafficking.”
According to the court’s statement, each of the convicted individuals received at least 39 lashes in public.
The statement said the Ghor court sentenced four people, including two women, for “moral corruption.” The punishment was carried out at the provincial stadium in the presence of local officials, Taliban security forces, and residents.
In a separate case, the Supreme Court said another person in Balkh province was flogged in public for allegedly transporting alcoholic beverages.
Despite widespread international condemnation, the Taliban continue to impose public floggings and corporal punishments, describing them as enforcement of “Islamic Sharia law.”
Human rights organisations have repeatedly called on the Taliban to end such practices, which they say constitute torture and violate Afghanistan’s international obligations.
Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has issued a sharp warning to the Taliban, threatening their complete destruction and saying Pakistan could force them to “flee back to the Tora Bora caves.”
Asif claimed that Pakistan would not need to use even a fraction of its military power to “completely obliterate the Taliban regime” and said a repeat of the Taliban’s retreat into Tora Bora would be “a spectacle to watch.” The Tora Bora mountain complex in eastern Afghanistan gained notoriety for its strategic role after the Taliban's fall in 2001.
The minister accused the Taliban of dragging Afghanistan toward another war to preserve their rule and sustain what he called a “war economy.”
Following the collapse of four days of talks between Pakistan and the Taliban in Istanbul, Asif wrote on X on Wednesday that Pakistan had only entered the discussions “at the request of brotherly countries who were persistently being beseeched by Taliban Regime”
He said recent “venomous statements" by Taliban officials revealed “the devious and splintered mindset of the Taliban regime.”
Asif alleged that the Taliban were blindly pushing Afghanistan into conflict “to retain its usurped rule and maintain the war economy.”
“Despite fully knowing their inherent limitations and hollowness of their war cries, they are beating the war drums to maintain their crumbling facade,” he wrote.
He added that if the Taliban insist on “madly hellbent upon ruining Afghanistan and its innocent people once again then so be it.”
Responding to those warning that “Afghanistan is the graveyard of empires” and that war with it would have dire consequences, Asif said: “Pakistan certainly doesn’t claim it to be an empire but Afghanistan is definitely a graveyard, surely for its own people.”
“Never a graveyard of empires” he continued, “but certainly a playground of empires you have been throughout history.”
The defence minister warned Taliban “warmongers” who, he said, benefit from continued instability in the region, that they were underestimating Pakistan’s “resolve and courage.”
“If the Taliban regime wants to fight us,” he said, “the world will Inshallah see that their threats are nothing but performative circus!.”
Failed Talks in Istanbul
The Taliban and Pakistani delegations held several rounds of lengthy discussions in Istanbul between Saturday and Tuesday, mediated by Qatar and Turkiye.
On Tuesday, Pakistan’s Minister of Information, Attaullah Tarar, announced that the four-day talks with the “Afghan Taliban regime” had ended without results.
Although the Taliban have not yet commented on the failure of the talks, Tarar accused the Taliban delegation of evading key issues and confirmed that Islamabad would take “all necessary measures” to protect its citizens.
He said that since the Taliban’s return to power in Kabul, Pakistan has repeatedly engaged with them over cross-border terrorism, particularly involving Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Baloch separatists.
A Taliban Foreign Ministry source earlier told Afghanistan International that Pakistan had demanded the Taliban launch operations against the TTP and declare it a terrorist organisation.
The source said Islamabad warned that if the Taliban refused, Pakistan reserved the right to carry out airstrikes on “suspicious movements” inside Afghanistan in response to TTP attacks.
The Taliban’s official position, the source added, is that it does not recognise the Pakistani Taliban as a “responsible entity” and regards the issue as Pakistan’s “internal matter.”
The Taliban delegation in Istanbul included Deputy Interior Minister Rahmatullah Najib, Taliban representative in Qatar Suhail Shaheen, senior member Anas Haqqani, Foreign Ministry Political Director Noor Ahmad Noor, Defence Ministry Operations Chief Noor Rahman Nusrat, and Foreign Ministry spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi.
The seven-member Pakistani delegation consisted of diplomats and senior intelligence officials
Pakistan’s Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Attaullah Tarar, announced on Tuesday that four days of negotiations with the “Afghan Taliban regime” in Istanbul had ended without agreement.
In a statement on X, Tarar thanked Qatar and Turkiye for mediating the talks but accused the Taliban delegation of avoiding discussions on key issues.
He said Pakistan would take “all necessary measures” to protect its citizens, adding that since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, Islamabad had repeatedly engaged with Kabul over cross-border terrorism particularly attacks by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants and Baloch separatists.
Tarar said Pakistan had urged the Taliban administration to uphold commitments made under the Doha Agreement, both to Pakistan and the international community, but that efforts to secure cooperation had failed. He accused the Taliban of continuing to provide support and shelter to anti-Pakistan militant groups.
“We will continue to take all possible measures necessary to protect our people from the menace of terrorism,” he said, adding that the government would use “all available resources to eliminate terrorists, their hideouts, facilitators, and supporters.”
The minister also warned that Pakistan’s patience had worn thin, accusing the Taliban of “dragging the Afghan people into a destructive conflict.”
He said Pakistan had presented “conclusive and verifiable evidence” of militant activity emanating from Afghan soil, but the Taliban delegation “avoided responsibility” and refused to provide assurances of action, leading to the failure of the talks.
Tarar reiterated his gratitude to Qatar and Turkiye for hosting and mediating the negotiations, saying the Taliban representatives had “verbally agreed” several times to Pakistan’s “logical and legitimate demand” for credible and decisive action against terrorist groups.
Taliban officials have not yet commented on the collapse of the talks.
The Istanbul negotiations followed a meeting between the defence ministers of Pakistan and the Taliban in Doha earlier this month, during which both sides agreed to a ceasefire and to reduce border hostilities. Technical discussions and monitoring mechanisms were deferred to the Istanbul round.
Pakistan has demanded that the Taliban prevent cross-border attacks by TTP militants and provide a written guarantee to curb further assaults on Pakistani territory.
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of the Islamic Party of Afghanistan, has urged Pakistan to adopt a “new, constructive, and lasting” policy toward Afghanistan amid growing tensions between Islamabad and the Taliban.
In a statement shared on X by his son, Habibur Rahman Hekmatyar, the former Afghan prime minister criticised Pakistan’s recent threats of military action, calling on the country’s parliament and people to prevent “irresponsible statements” that could have “serious consequences.”
Hekmatyar condemned what he described as the “silence” of Pakistani lawmakers in the face of escalating rhetoric and said the current tensions between the Taliban and Pakistan were “exactly what India wants to happen.”
He said that attacks by insurgent groups in Pakistan began when NATO forces were still in Afghanistan. He alleged that the United States had allowed India to “train and support Pakistan’s armed opponents” in Afghanistan.
He said that “two Muslim neighbours are on the brink of a dangerous war,” while “millions of refugees are being expelled with humiliation and their homes bulldozed.” Hekmatyar called such actions “contrary to compassion, decency, and human ethics.”
He questioned why Pakistan’s parliament has “failed to take a clear and firm stance on this sensitive situation” and prevent further escalation.
Hekmatyar expressed hope that Islamabad would adopt a policy based on “mutual respect and non-interference” and that both countries could resolve disputes “fairly, rationally, and with patience and wisdom.”
His remarks came after Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif warned that if the ongoing talks between Islamabad and the Taliban failed, Pakistan could enter an “open war” with Afghanistan.
Taliban-affiliated media and Reuters, citing Pakistani security sources, reported on Tuesday that the Istanbul talks between the Afghan Taliban and Pakistan ended without an agreement. Neither side has issued an official statement on the outcome.