DND Report: In December 2024 Director-General of ISPR, Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif, clearly stated that terrorists hiding in Afghanistan are launching attacks in Pakistan’s border areas. In September 2025, he while giving an interview to a German Magazine reiterated his stance stating credible evidence proves the involvement of Afghan nationals in terrorism and serious crimes. In same week, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif demanded Afghanistan to choose between Pakistan and TTP terrorists. Every such statement and demand had encounter deaf ears of Afghan Interim government that has been hosting, harbouring, funding and sponsoring TTP terrorists to attack Pakistan.
In an interview with a German magazine, the DG ISPR stated Pakistan hosted millions of Afghan refugees for four decades and made organized efforts to ensure their dignified return and Pakistan repeatedly extended the deadline for their repatriation of Afghans on humanitarian grounds. According to him, the original reasons for Afghan asylum that was foreign interference and civil war had no longer exist.
It is further being noted that Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir also indicated several times that terrorism emanating from the soil of a neighboring country (Afghanistan) will not be tolerated.
Pakistan’s security forces are trading their lives to protect the motherland and year 2025 had been brutal for them as cross-border terrorism inflicting from Afghanistan had been intensified since India-Afghanistan partnership was announced in January 2025. Pakistan’s civil and military leadership have been vowing that cross-border terrorism carried out by Afghan nationals in Pakistan is unacceptable but Afghan Interim government is giving no response to Pakistan’s concerns and keep providing safe havens to the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Afghanistan. There could be many reasons for this indifferent response of Afghan Taliban to Pakistan’s warnings and concerns. Three of such reasons could be cordial relations of Afghan Interim government with India, China, Russia, United States and Middle Eastern countries; alleged financial support Afghan government gets from smugglers who earn over 3,600 billion rupees annually through Pak-Afghan border smuggling and they do not want this border as hard border and they keep security forces busy in managing security instead of completely focusing on cross-border smuggling and the third possible reason can be deep-rooted support Afghan Taliban enjoys in political, administrative and journalistic cadres of Pakistan.
Pakistan’s top televisions and newspapers sometimes support the idea of ‘dialogue’ with terrorists as a number of journalists have closely been working with Afghans during Afghan Jihad and they are psychologically closer to Afghan cause than to Pakistan’s narrative and some of these journalists are too strong even to influence decision making spectrum.
Islamabad has reasons and the facts to submit globally that India is sponsoring TTP terrorists who attack Pakistan from Afghanistan while Afghan government rejects all these concerns of Pakistan. At diplomatic sphere Afghan Interim government is not weak and busy in interesting deals with global powers such as United States, China and Russia. US is dealing with Afghan government to retake Bagram Base (although reports suggest that US officials are already present at Base since March 2025). Russia has recognized Afghan Interim government and China is offering business to Kabul. These developments encourage Kabul not to listen Pakistan and keep following strategy to host anti-Pakistan terror groups and it uses terrorism as ‘diplomatic leverage’ while dealing with foreign partners. For Islamabad, options are limited while dealing with Kabul therefore Afghan government is not giving any promise to Pakistan that its territory will not be used by terrorists.
Some journalists who have been dealing with Pak-Afghan relations believe Pakistan’s expectations that the Afghan interim government will deny the use of its territory for attacks against Pakistan are futile and Pakistan should understand Taliban will not stop harboring, supporting, and funding the TTP because terrorists such as TTP are assets of Afghan government. They are of the view that Pak-Afghan relations are complex where balance is in favour of Afghanistan because some friendly countries are suggesting Pakistan to avoid hot pursuit and kill terrorists inside Afghanistan and that is what Afghan government knows and exploits the situation. One of a journalist who covered Afghan War in 90s claimed that Pakistan faces catch-22 situation because it does not want call Afghanistan an enemy country as Pakistan categorically says about India but Afghan soil is being used by India and had inflicted so may wounds to Pakistan that are uncountable. He believes that this confusion whether Afghan government is an enemy or a friend goes in favour of Afghanistan and this sensitive but important matter must be resolved if Pakistan wants to stop cross-border terrorism that Pakistan is facing today.
