Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Munir Akram on Wednesday asserted before the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) that Islamabad would continue its ongoing crackdown against the Fitna al-Khawarij, aka the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Maintaining that the TTP was rapidly expanding its influence with the support of the Afghan interim government, he said it had become the largest terrorist group in Afghanistan and was routinely conducting cross-border attacks into Pakistan. He said Islamabad fears the TTP’s growing alliance with Al Qaeda could soon make it a global concerns, adding the militants were equipped with advanced weaponry and increasingly collaborated with other insurgent factions.
Referring to an ongoing surge in terrorism across Pakistan, he warned that the TTP’s actions risked regional instability. To counter it, he said, Pakistan was ready to collaborate with regional and international bodies.
Additionally, Akram criticized the Afghan interim government for its ongoing human rights abuses, particularly against women and girls. Condemning Kabul’s failure to uphold promises regarding gender equality, he said such regressive policies were against Islamic values and hindered Afghanistan’s potential for international engagement. He said 23.7 million Afghans required urgent assistance and urged the global community to fully fund the Afghanistan Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan and address the liquidity crisis paralyzing the Afghan economy.
Despite these conditions, said the ambassador, Pakistan was committed to expanding trade and economic ties with Afghanistan. In this regard, he said, regional infrastructure projects could play a major role in facilitating stability.
In his speech, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres backed Pakistan’s concerns and called on the Afghan Taliban to prevent cross-border terrorist attacks and not allow their soil to become a haven for militant organizations.
Since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in 2021, Pakistan has witnessed a significant surge in attacks on security forces, particularly in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. Islamabad has repeatedly urged the interim Afghan government to ensure its soil isn’t used for terrorism, to no avail, and last year initiated a repatriation policy for illegal Afghan refugees to require proper documentation for all foreigners within the country.
In July, the U.N. sanctions monitoring team issued a report warning that the TTP had become the largest terror group in Afghanistan with the support of the country’s Taliban rulers. It said the globally designated terrorist group had an estimated strength of 6,000-6,500 fighters.