New York (Web Desk): A senior Pakistani envoy has told the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) that terrorism originating from Afghanistan poses the most serious danger to Pakistan’s security, urging the Taliban administration to honor its global commitments on counterterrorism.
Speaking at the Council’s debate on Afghanistan, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN, pointed out that the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), with nearly 6,000 fighters, continues to be the largest UN-listed terrorist group active on Afghan soil.
He said Pakistan has intercepted several infiltrations attempts by TTP and Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) militants, during which large stores of modern weaponry were seized, much of it left behind by foreign forces, particularly the United States, at the time of their withdrawal.
He noted that these defensive efforts come at a heavy price, recalling the loss of 12 soldiers in one attack earlier this month while defending Pakistan’s frontier. Calling the situation untenable, he told the Council that groups such as ISIL-K/Da’esh, Al-Qaeda, TTP, the BLA, and its Majeed Brigade are entrenched in Afghan sanctuaries, with over 60 camps serving as bases for cross-border violence.
The ambassador said there is solid proof of cooperation among these organizations through joint training, arms smuggling, provision of hideouts, and coordinated assaults against civilians, law enforcement personnel, and development projects inside Pakistan.
He pressed for immediate approval of the joint Chinese-Pakistani initiative in the UNSC Sanctions Committee to classify the BLA and its Majeed Brigade as terrorist entities, reminding that Washington has already added both groups to its own blacklist.
Underscoring Pakistan’s consistent call for engagement with Afghanistan, he warned against allowing the sanctions framework to be weakened by political bargaining. He stressed that exemptions from travel bans remain essential for meaningful dialogue and cited the quadrilateral talks in Dushanbe between Pakistan, China, Iran, and Russia as an effort to shape constructive interaction with Kabul’s interim rulers.
Ambassador Ahmad argued that only a process based on reciprocity, clear objectives, and diplomacy could stabilize Afghanistan, while isolation would be counterproductive. He also observed that the curbs on Afghan women and girls run contrary to Islamic principles and traditions of Muslim societies.
Turning to Pakistan’s role, he explained that many Afghans have been sent back home in an orderly and dignified manner, while a flexible visa system still allows thousands to remain in Pakistan for family, educational, medical, or business reasons. However, he insisted that the international community must share the responsibility more fairly, including through resettlement programs that remain unfulfilled.
He reiterated that no state is more invested in peace in Afghanistan than Pakistan, nor has any other borne greater costs from decades of turmoil there. Pakistan, he affirmed, remains dedicated to advancing a stable and prosperous Afghanistan for the region and the wider world.
Opening the meeting, Roza Otunbayeva, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, said the country is now gripped by a “perfect storm” of overlapping crises. She noted that although major conflict has eased since the Taliban assumed power in 2021, humanitarian conditions, the economy, and human rights have all sharply declined.
Otunbayeva warned that whether the Taliban will show enough pragmatism to manage these challenges remains uncertain, as ideological choices may block lasting solutions.
Central to the crisis, she said, are the sweeping restrictions on women and girls, with secondary schools closed for four years, costing the economy billions of dollars. A UN Women survey, she added, shows that most Afghans oppose these bans
“A generation stands in danger of being lost at enormous long-term cost to the nation,” Otunbayeva cautioned.