Afghanistan recorded 9,775 security incidents in 2025, according to quarterly reports by the United Nations. The data show that at least 13 attacks were attributed to ISIS-K.
Moreover, 201 incidents were claimed by anti-Taliban armed movements, including the National Resistance Front and the Afghanistan Freedom Front.
The reports say 186 civilians were killed and 759 wounded in security-related incidents during the year, with the highest number of injuries linked to clashes involving Pakistani forces.
Security tensions between the Taliban and Pakistan escalated sharply in 2025, at times reaching the outskirts of Kabul. Pakistan carried out air strikes it said targeted militants from Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) operating from Afghan territory, an accusation the Taliban have repeatedly denied.
The Taliban have also acknowledged security incidents along Afghanistan’s northern border with Tajikistan. In one incident, Tajik authorities said three armed men crossed into Tajikistan from Afghanistan and were killed in clashes that also left two Tajik border guards dead. Separate incidents in the same border region resulted in the deaths of three Chinese nationals in what authorities described as a suspected militant attack.
Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said on Dec. 27 that authorities had launched an investigation into recent border incidents with Tajikistan and were coordinating with officials in Dushanbe.
Internally, the Taliban said their security forces expanded in 2025. Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said the group’s defence forces now number more than 181,000 personnel, with over 100,000 police trained during the year.
The year also saw a rare internal security incident within the Taliban’s intelligence apparatus, when Nauman, an aide to intelligence chief Abdul Haq Wasiq, was killed in what officials described as a suspicious explosion at his home in Kabul.
Despite the Taliban’s continued insistence that Afghan territory poses no threat to neighbouring countries or the wider world, security developments in 2025 — particularly tensions with Pakistan and incidents along the Tajik border — have raised questions among regional governments about stability under Taliban rule.
