Hassan Ahmad
The world has started understanding the concerns expressed for a long time by Islamabad about the emergence of cross-border terrorism from Afghanistan. New disclosures surfacing through regional and international forums are substantiating the genuineness of Pakistan’s stance amid the existence of banned terrorist groups under the shelter of the Taliban interim government in Afghanistan.
Infiltration, cross-border terrorism and armed incursions have become frequent along Afghanistan’s borders with neighbouring countries. Repetitive incidents along the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border have prompted the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) to announce plans to supply Tajik border forces with advanced weapons and equipment to fend off infiltrations and attacks from Afghanistan into Tajikistan. Recurring cross-border attacks and terrorist infiltration underscore Afghanistan’s continued role as a source of regional instability. On 26 Nov 2025, a quadcopter attack originating from the Badakhshan area of Afghanistan targeted a Chinese site in Tajikistan. Grenades dropped from a drone killed three Chinese nationals. On 30 Nov 2025, a second attack launched from Afghanistan killed two Chinese workers of China Road and Bridge Corporation in Tajikistan. In total, five Chinese nationals were killed, and five were injured within four days.
On 18 Jan 2026, terrorists infiltrating from Afghanistan were neutralised after armed resistance, with weapons, equipment and logistical material recovered, confirming organised cross-border movement. On 29 Jan 2026, armed smugglers crossed from Afghanistan into Tajikistan and were killed in a clash with Tajik Border Forces, with large caches of arms, drugs and equipment seized. These incidents confirm Afghan territory functioning as a staging ground for infiltration, smuggling and terrorist-linked activity targeting neighbouring states. Over a period of time, the Taliban regime has turned Afghanistan into a sanctuary for terrorist organisations by allowing freedom of movement, operational space and protection while failing to dismantle terrorist infrastructure.
UN Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team’s 16th report confirms the presence of over 20 international and regional terrorist organisations operating inside Afghanistan. Around 13,000 foreign terrorist fighters remain active, including contingents from TTP, ISIL-K, Al-Qaeda, AQIS, IMU, ETIM/TIP, Jamaat Ansarullah and other groups. These groups pose direct threats not only to Pakistan, Iran and the Central Asian Republics, but also to Chinese nationals, regional connectivity projects and strategic infrastructures.
Taliban ideology aggravates these threats. The central leadership of the Taliban believes in exporting extremist agendas worldwide. The rapid expansion of madrassas under Taliban patronage is advancing and exporting radical views.
With over 23,000 madrassas in a country of 40 million, Afghanistan’s education space has been transformed into an ideological pipeline, prioritising indoctrination through forced learning and fueling extremism beyond the borders. Systematic repression of women, exclusion from education, employment, and public life deepens poverty, grievance and isolation, creating a permissive recruitment environment for extremist groups.
With such conditions prevailing, Afghanistan no longer functions as a rational, normal state. It exports insecurity through terrorism, drugs, arms smuggling and extremist ideology. Pakistan, Iran and the Central Asian Republics face immediate consequences, including border infiltration, attacks and economic disruption. Regional trade routes, energy corridors and connectivity initiatives increasingly remain at risk as insecurity spills outward from Afghanistan.
Normalisation without accountability risks legitimising the Taliban regime that enables terrorism. Any engagement must remain conditional, verifiable and tied to dismantling terrorist networks. A joint regional strategy is needed based on intelligence sharing, border coordination, financial tracking and unified diplomatic pressure against threats emanating from Afghanistan. US and European states will not remain immune.
The obsession of the Taliban with radical violent ideology merits that Afghanistan, in its present form, should be dealt with cautiously as a hub of international terrorism, having the potential to spark conflicts throughout the region. As pointed out by the Pakistani PM on the SCO forum the previous year, the current security situation warrants a regional coordinated response to counter the terror troika nexus nurturing between Taliban, Indian state actors and hardcore terrorist groups.
