ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan’s defense minister Khwaja Muhammad Asif has said that militant groups operating from Afghanistan fuel recent unrest in the country’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, claiming that the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is using Afghanistan’s territory to organize attacks.
In an interview aired Wednesday by Geo News, Asif said the TTP has an “active presence” in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan and continues to launch what he described as “terrorist attacks” against Pakistan.
“Our first and last desire is to maintain stable and strong relations,” Asif said, referring to Afghanistan. “But regarding terrorism — especially what we’ve seen in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — the source of it all is Afghanistan.”
The Taliban have not issued an official response to Asif’s remarks, though they have previously rejected similar claims, and have in turn accused Pakistan of harboring fighters linked to the Islamic State’s Khorasan branch (ISIS-K).
Asif added that Afghan nationals were among those killed in recent counterterrorism operations in Pakistan’s northwest. “A number of our enemies, primarily TTP, are present there,” he said, urging both governments to undertake “extraordinary efforts” to address the issue.
His comments follow the release of the U.S. intelligence community’s annual threat assessment, which also highlighted TTP’s coordination with al-Qaeda in carrying out anti-government operations inside Pakistan.
Tensions between Islamabad and Kabul have grown in recent months, as cross-border violence and militant activity have surged. Pakistan has increasingly voiced frustration with the Taliban’s reluctance or inability to rein in extremist groups operating from Afghan territory.
