Do Not Test Afghans’ Patience, Taliban Minister Warns Pakistan

Speaking at a conference on Afghanistan in Islamabad, Tarar said Pakistan had repeatedly tried to resolve its differences with Kabul through dialogue, but continued insecurity and the activities of armed groups remained the biggest obstacles in relations between the two countries.

The conference, held in Islamabad on Tuesday, focused on the situation in Afghanistan and prospects for peace in the region.

Tarar said Pakistan and Afghanistan were neighbouring countries with deep historical, geographical and cultural ties and would inevitably have to live alongside one another.

He said Islamabad had consistently supported peace, dialogue and peaceful coexistence, but questioned whether there was sufficient willingness on the Afghan side to achieve peace.

The Pakistani information minister said his government had made several attempts in recent years to resolve problems with the Taliban. According to him, Pakistani delegations had travelled to Afghanistan several times, while talks had also been held in third countries, including Istanbul and Doha.

Tarar repeated Islamabad’s allegations against the Taliban, saying terrorist safe havens and the presence of armed groups on Afghan soil were among the main obstacles to peace between the two countries. He claimed that banned organisations continued to operate in Afghanistan.

Pakistan has repeatedly accused the Taliban in recent years of failing to prevent armed groups opposed to Islamabad from operating from Afghan territory. Taliban officials have rejected the allegations and say they do not allow Afghan soil to be used against any country.

Tarar also said peace and stability in Afghanistan could create significant economic and trade opportunities for the region.

He added that Afghanistan had the potential to become a bridge between Central Asia and Pakistan, allowing Central Asian countries to gain access through Pakistan to its ports and warm-water routes.

A senior Pakistani official involved in Afghanistan policy told the newspaper that relations between the two neighbours were likely to become even more strained.

“We have, I think, reached a point of no return,” the official said.

The report, written by journalist Kamran Yousaf, said that despite recent efforts by Türkiye and Qatar to reduce tensions between Islamabad and Kabul, Pakistani officials believe the relationship could deteriorate further.

“We know the Taliban so well. They are not going to mend their ways,” the unnamed Pakistani official told the Express Tribune.

The official added that the Taliban’s measures to address Pakistan’s security concerns “are not enough and are cosmetic in nature.”

According to the report, the head of Türkiye’s intelligence service travelled to Kabul and Islamabad as part of regional efforts to ease tensions. However, the diplomatic initiative collapsed before it could gain traction.

The newspaper reported that a day after Turkish and Qatari officials held meetings in Kabul, a deadly attack targeted the police lines in Kohat, with one of the suicide attackers identified as an Afghan national.

Pakistani officials cited the attack as evidence of the continued presence of terrorist groups on Afghan territory, and Pakistan subsequently carried out strikes inside Afghanistan.

The Express Tribune reported that the Taliban responded by sending rudimentary drones towards Pakistan, which Pakistani officials said were neutralised before causing casualties or significant damage.

Pakistan then launched further strikes against drone storage facilities and launch sites at around 10 locations in Afghanistan, including one target in Kandahar.

The report also said the Turkish delegation had expected to meet Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhundzada in Kandahar, but that he instead deputed a member of his staff to meet the delegation. The move was not well received by the Turkish side.

The report further noted that some Pakistani officials believe the growing rift could change perceptions among anti-Taliban groups. For years, some of these groups had viewed Pakistan as still somehow aligned with the Taliban. As tensions deepen, that perception may shift.

“If the Taliban regime’s writ is challenged further, it won’t be a surprise,” the official said.

The group dismissed Taliban reports of arrests and casualties among opposition fighters as fabricated and alleged that the Taliban had forced tourists in Nuristan to appear in confession videos as detainees.

In a statement issued on Sunday, 27 September, the Afghanistan Freedom Front said its forces had launched attacks on Taliban positions in Kamdesh and Nari from Saturday morning and that fighting was continuing.

The group said its forces had so far liberated several villages in the two districts from Taliban control.

According to the statement, AFF forces launched a coordinated counter-attack, cleared several checkpoints of Taliban fighters and seized what it described as a large quantity of light and heavy weapons.

The group claimed the Taliban had been pushed back after suffering heavy casualties.

It also alleged that, to justify its defeat on the battlefield and divert public attention, the Taliban had released confession videos of domestic travellers and tourists in the area, presenting them as members of the Freedom Front.

The Taliban Defence Ministry had earlier confirmed fighting in the two districts. In a statement, it said 28 opposition fighters had been killed and 32 others detained in Kamdesh district of Nuristan.

Taliban-affiliated social media users also published videos showing several people making confessions and described them as opposition fighters. It is unclear under what circumstances the statements were obtained.

The Afghanistan Freedom Front said the bodies and wounded Taliban fighters had been taken to hospitals in Kunar and Nuristan.

The Front said that its commandos have maintained their positions and defensive lines in the villages and areas they have taken in Kamdesh and Nari, while temporarily withdrawing from some vulnerable checkpoints.

The group said its commandos in the eastern region are mainly local young people with detailed knowledge of the operational areas and a strong understanding of the terrain.

The political and military opposition group said its forces remained committed to fighting for the country’s freedom, protecting human dignity, the values of the people of Afghanistan and respecting international laws of war.

AFF also claimed that Taliban “propaganda” about the fighting in Kamdesh and Nari reflected the group’s confusion and weakness.

Referring to the confession videos released by the Taliban, the group said the move demonstrated what it described as the Taliban’s ignorance and disrespect for human values and its failure to observe international humanitarian principles and laws.

The Guardian reported on Sunday that Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is expected to announce the reopening of the UK Resettlement Scheme at the Labour Party conference on Monday. The scheme had effectively been suspended for two years, although it was never formally closed.

Under the reopened scheme, refugees arriving through the legal route will have a more favourable path to permanent settlement than those who enter the UK through irregular routes, including small-boat crossings.

The Guardian reported that the Home Office expects Afghan women and girls and Palestinian refugees to account for about a quarter of arrivals during the initial phase. Numbers are expected to be limited at first, with an annual cap on admissions.

Home Office sources told the newspaper that the programme was likely to begin with hundreds of refugees and could expand to the low thousands in subsequent years if levels of irregular migration decline.

Eligible refugees will be identified by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP). They will undergo security and criminal-record checks before entering the UK.

Vulnerable women and girls, people with disabilities and others in urgent need of protection will be prioritised. Family units will be allowed to resettle together under the scheme, although the provision will not extend to wider family members.

Mahmood is expected to present the scheme as part of the government’s effort to balance tighter immigration controls with its commitment to protecting the most vulnerable refugees.

Reaction And Criticism

Migration experts and refugee organisations have welcomed the reopening of a safe and legal route but warned that the number of people admitted is likely to be too small to have a significant effect on the number of asylum seekers crossing the English Channel.

Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, said the scheme was primarily based on the principle that Britain should play its part in protecting the world’s most vulnerable refugees.

She said, however, that there was no reason to believe resettlement alone would substantially reduce irregular arrivals.

Jon Featonby, chief policy analyst at the Refugee Council, also welcomed the creation of safe and legal routes but said such programmes could undermine the business model of people smugglers only if they operated at sufficient scale.

The scheme is also likely to face criticism from right-wing parties, including Reform UK, particularly over welfare costs and security screening.

Former Afghan MP Fawzia Koofi welcomed the UK’s plans.

Koofi said that after four years of advocacy, campaigning and correspondence, calls to protect Afghan women at risk were finally receiving a response.

She expressed hope that the Home Office would establish a mechanism allowing women at particular risk, especially those who have resisted Taliban restrictions and repression, to benefit from the scheme.

In an interview with Outlook, Saleh described Taliban rule as “illegitimate” and said public opposition to the group was taking various forms, with armed attacks being its most visible expression.

According to Saleh, Afghanistan under Taliban rule lacks national sovereignty and a legitimate state system, a situation he said has had serious consequences across the country, particularly in the north, Kabul and other major cities.

Saleh described the challenge posed by anti-Taliban forces as “real” but said their attacks had so far not been sufficiently widespread, intense or “loud”. He added that dictatorships usually underestimate their opponents, public anger and opposition forces.

The former official rejected reports of a serious rift between the Afghan Taliban and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, saying he had not observed growing differences between the two sides.

Saleh argued that the Afghan Taliban were “indebted” to the Pakistani Taliban and that what might appear to be mutual cooperation was driven more by necessity than favour.

He also claimed that the Taliban had maintained relations with anti-government groups in the region and that some global powers supported these ties.

Saleh called for the secret annexes of the Doha Agreement to be made public, saying: “If the secret annexes to the Doha deal are made public. We can decode the Taliban's conduct more easily. Afghanistan was handed over to them for a purpose.”

Referring to the nature of the Taliban, he said: “A scorpion without venom is not a scorpion.”

Saleh rejected assessments suggesting that the Taliban had “changed” or “reformed”, saying the group had only one “DNA”, which he described as “anti-national, anti-civilisation, anti- inclusivity, misogynistic”.

In his view, the Taliban see themselves as tasked with forcing others into submission through torture.

Speaking about reported differences between the Taliban leadership in Kandahar and Kabul, Saleh said what Afghans were experiencing was cruelty, exclusion and repression.

Saleh also said it was no longer possible to speak of a single policy pursued by an international community, because major powers and neighbouring countries now have different policies towards Afghanistan.