Afghanistan’s transformation into a permissive space for militant organisations is no longer merely a Pakistani allegation; it is an increasingly documented regional security reality. Groups such as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and the Gul Bahadur network have abandoned every moral and religious boundary by embracing suicide bombings, indiscriminate killing, intimidation and armed rebellion. Their leaders invoke Islam, but their conduct represents the opposite of Islam’s principles of justice, mercy and protection of innocent life. They exploit Afghan territory for sanctuary, recruitment, training, logistical preparation, and cross-border infiltration, while vulnerable young men are indoctrinated and sent to die in attacks whose principal victims are often Muslims themselves.
The United Nations’ thirty-sixth report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team provided unusually direct support for Pakistan’s concerns. It assessed that the Afghan de facto authorities maintained a permissive environment for terrorist groups, reported several Al-Qaeda-linked training sites, and stated that these facilities trained both Al-Qaeda and TTP fighters. Most importantly, it estimated that the TTP had approximately 6,000 fighters and continued receiving substantial logistical and operational support from the Taliban authorities.
The report also noted the group’s access to weapons and its involvement in high-profile, mass-casualty attacks
The thirty-seventh UN report strengthened this assessment rather than reversing it. It was recorded that regional countries remained concerned about the number of terrorist groups in Afghanistan and their cross-border effects. Although the Taliban authorities claimed that no terrorist organisations existed within their borders, the report stated that no UN member state supported that position. It further concluded that the TTP had been granted greater liberty and support, that its attacks against Pakistan had consequently increased, and that it operated as one of the largest terrorist groups in Afghanistan. Al-Qaeda, meanwhile, was described as enjoying Taliban patronage and providing training and advice, principally to the TTP.
These findings expose the weakness of Kabul’s repeated denials. A government cannot credibly claim that its territory is not being used for terrorism while militant commanders, facilitators, trainers, and support networks remain protected within its borders. The leadership of these organisations enjoys relative safety, while foot soldiers are recruited from poor and impressionable communities and dispatched across the border. This is not resistance.
It is an organised system in which sanctuary, propaganda, weapons, mobility, and ideological manipulation combine to sustain violence against Pakistan
Warnings have also come from prominent Afghan opponents of Taliban rule. Ahmad Massoud has stated that more than twenty regional terrorist organisations operate in Afghanistan and warned that transnational militants have sharply increased demand for weapons. Former Afghan commander Lieutenant General Sami Sadat has publicly accused the Taliban of supplying the TTP with military and financial assistance. He has also been quoted in regional media alleging that Indian financing reaches anti-Pakistan militants through Taliban-linked channels. That specific allegation requires independent corroboration and should not be presented as an established UN finding, but it warrants a serious international investigation because proxy warfare has repeatedly exploited Afghanistan’s instability.
The ideological fraud of Fitna al-Khawarij must also be confronted. Their violence is not jihad; it is fasad fil-ard—corruption, disorder and destruction on earth. Attacks on civilians, schools, hospitals, mosques, markets, roads, communication systems, and public infrastructure do not defend Islam. They paralyse society, spread fear, destroy livelihoods, and weaken Muslim states. The Qur’an condemns those who wage war against society and strive to spread corruption in the land in Surah al-Ma’idah 5:33.
In classical Islamic legal terminology, organised armed terror against the public constitutes hirabah, not legitimate jihad
Suicide bombing is equally indefensible. The Qur’an commands believers not to cast themselves into destruction in Surah al-Baqarah 2:195, while the intentional killing of innocent people violates the sanctity of human life. The Khawarij compound these crimes through reckless takfir, declaring Muslims apostates merely because they reject the militants’ political programme. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ warned against falsely accusing a Muslim of disbelief. Their slogans therefore cannot cleanse their crimes; religious vocabulary does not transform murder into martyrdom, rebellion into jihad, or terrorism into sacrifice.
Islam also requires obedience to lawful authority and the preservation of social order. Surah al-Nisa 4:59 instructs Muslims to obey Allah, His Messenger ﷺ, and those entrusted with authority. This principle does not give rulers unlimited power, but it decisively rejects the notion that an armed faction may independently declare war, establish private courts, murder public officials, or impose its ideology through terror. The Khawarij recognise no constitutional order, scholarly consensus or ethical restriction because their true objective is power through violence.
Pakistan’s own scholarly consensus has already demolished this extremist narrative. Paigham-e-Pakistan, endorsed by more than 1,800 scholars representing different schools of Islamic thought, rejects terrorism, suicide attacks, sectarian hatred and armed rebellion against the state. It establishes that no private group may declare jihad, overthrow constitutional authority, or kill citizens in the name of religion.
This national religious consensus deprives Fitna al-Khawarij of the legitimacy it falsely claims and places its activities firmly outside Islamic teachings
Pakistan’s security forces must remain vigilant and continue intelligence-led action against infiltration, facilitators and operational cells. Yet military preparedness alone is insufficient. The international community must demand visible and verifiable action from the Taliban: dismantling camps, restricting militant movement, arresting commanders, ending financial and logistical assistance, and preventing Afghan territory from being used against neighbouring states. Empty assurances should no longer be accepted as counterterrorism policy.
The Afghan people must not be equated with the Taliban regime or terrorist networks; they too are victims of decades of militancy and political failure. Nevertheless, Afghanistan cannot achieve peace while serving as a shelter for organisations exporting violence. Until these sanctuaries are dismantled and the infrastructure of terrorism is eliminated, the promise of regional stability will remain hostage to the very forces that have devastated both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
