WASHINGTON: Pakistan told the UN Security Council that terrorism from Afghanistan remains the gravest threat to its national security and urged the Council to address it as a priority for regional peace.
At the Council’s briefing on Afghanistan, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, said multiple terrorist entities — including Daesh-K, Al-Qaeda, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), and the Majeed Brigade — operate from Afghan sanctuaries.
He stated that more than 60 terrorist camps function as hubs for cross-border infiltration and attacks. He stressed that Pakistan possesses credible evidence of collaboration among these groups through joint training, illicit weapons trade, refuge for militants, and coordinated assaults targeting civilians, security forces, and development projects inside Pakistan.
Ambassador Iftikhar highlighted the online dimension of the threat, noting that nearly 70 propaganda accounts traced to Afghan IP addresses spread extremist narratives. He urged social media platforms to cooperate in curbing these activities.
He said Pakistan and China had jointly requested the UN’s 1267 Sanctions Committee to list the BLA and Majeed Brigade and expressed hope that the Committee would act swiftly on the proposal.
The envoy identified the TTP, with an estimated 6,000 fighters, as the largest terrorist group on Afghan soil. He said Pakistani forces had foiled several infiltration attempts and seized sophisticated military-grade weapons left behind by foreign forces after their withdrawal from Afghanistan.
He emphasized the heavy price of these operations, recalling that 12 Pakistani soldiers embraced martyrdom this month while defending the borders.
The ambassador also drew attention to Afghanistan’s economic and humanitarian crisis, pointing out that the UN’s 2025 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan has received only 27% of the required funding. He reminded the Council that Pakistan has hosted millions of Afghan refugees for over four decades with inadequate international support and urged a fairer sharing of this burden.
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While acknowledging that Afghanistan has witnessed the end of civil war for the first time in 40 years, Ambassador Iftikhar said the situation remains deeply worrying. He stressed that sustained engagement, not isolation, offers the only path to lasting peace.
