ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Friday said that over 10,000 militant attacks were carried out in Pakistan since the Taliban came into power in Afghanistan. Defence Minister also accused Kabul of turning a blind eye to Pakistan’s repeated efforts for peace and now becoming a “proxy for India” in a renewed wave of terrorism targeting Pakistan.
In a strongly worded statement, the minister said that despite Islamabad’s diplomatic outreach and security cooperation since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, there had been no meaningful response from the Afghan interim government. He said that over the past five years, Pakistan had pursued every possible channel to ensure regional stability, only to be met with indifference and continued cross-border hostility.
طالبان کے 2021سے اقتدار میں آنے کےبعد سے لیکر پاکستان میں امن اور افغانستان سے دراندازی کے لئے ھماری حکومت کی کوششوں کا تفصیلی جائزہ۔۔۔
1-وزیر خاجہ کے کابل وزٹ 4
2-وزیردفاع اور ISI وزٹ2
3-نمائندہ خصوصی 5وزٹ
4-سیکرٹری 5وزٹ
5- نیشنل سیکورٹی ایڈوائزر 1وزٹ
6-جوائنٹ کوآرڈینیشن…— Khawaja M. Asif (@KhawajaMAsif) October 17, 2025
Mr Asif revealed that Pakistan had suffered over 10,347 terrorist incidents since 2021, resulting in the martyrdom of 3,844 civilians, military personnel, and law enforcement officials. “Despite these sacrifices, there has been no positive engagement from Kabul,” he said. “Instead, the Afghan soil is being used to launch attacks against Pakistan, with full facilitation from hostile actors including the TTP and Indian intelligence.”
Referring to Pakistan’s diplomatic and military outreach, the minister said multiple visits had been made to Kabul by key government and security figures, including himself, the DG ISI, the National Security Adviser, and the Special Representative for Afghanistan. “We have held hundreds of flag meetings, issued protest letters, delivered demarches, but our calls for peace have fallen on deaf ears,” he stated.
He lamented that the very Afghan leaders who now “sit in India’s lap and plot against Pakistan” had once found shelter in Pakistan during decades of conflict in their own country. “Those whom we hosted for five decades are now conspiring against us. That era of forced hospitality is over,” he said.
The minister signalled a shift in policy, warning that Pakistan would no longer tolerate the use of Afghan territory for terrorism. He said all undocumented Afghans on Pakistani soil would have to return to their country, adding that Pakistan’s resources were meant for its own 250 million citizens.
“There will be no more delegations to Kabul, no more appeals for peace. Protest letters are no longer enough. If the source of terror lies across the border, it will pay a heavy price,” he warned.
The statement comes at a time of heightened tensions between Islamabad and Kabul, following a surge in militant activity in Pakistan’s tribal districts and Balochistan, with the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claiming responsibility for several recent attacks.
There was no immediate response from the Afghan interim government to the minister’s remarks.
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