Pakistan’s defense minister warned that Islamabad is fully prepared to confront both the Taliban and India at the same time, saying the Taliban were no longer trustworthy due to their ties with India and militant groups.
Khawaja Asif said in an interview that his earlier optimism about the Taliban after they returned to power in Kabul in 2021 had proven misplaced.
“I made a mistake when the Taliban took power in Kabul and I pinned my hopes on them,” Asif said. “All those hopes were shattered. I think the Taliban are not trustworthy. Their friends — whether Afghan, Pakistani, the TTP or India — none of them are reliable. The Taliban have now moved closer to India.”
Asif said Pakistan had the capacity to deal with threats from both sides, underscoring rising tensions between Islamabad and the Taliban.
His remarks came as Pakistan’s military renewed accusations that Afghanistan has become a base for militant groups targeting Pakistan. Army spokesman Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said at a news conference that militant organisations were operating freely from Afghan territory.
“There is nothing like a functioning government in Afghanistan,” Chaudhry said. “What has happened there is merely a geographical change. Afghanistan has turned into an operational hub for terrorist groups after 2021, and terrorism has not been eliminated from Afghan soil despite the Doha commitments.”
Pakistan has long accused the Taliban of sheltering the Pakistani Taliban, or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which Islamabad says has carried out deadly attacks inside Pakistan. The Taliban deny the allegation and say they do not allow Afghanistan’s territory to be used against other countries.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid rejected the Pakistani military’s comments, calling them “irresponsible and provocative”, and warned of consequences if such rhetoric continued.
“The Islamic Emirate strongly condemns such irresponsible and inflammatory statements,” Mujahid said in a statement. “Pakistani institutions should focus on resolving their internal problems instead of fuelling baseless propaganda against Afghanistan.”
Relations between Islamabad and the Taliban have deteriorated over the past three months, following the collapse of four rounds of talks aimed at easing tensions, according to analysts. Pakistan increasingly portrays the Taliban as proxies of India and supporters of militant groups hostile to Pakistan, while the Taliban accuse Islamabad of working with major powers, including the United States, to destabilise Afghanistan.
Security analyst Arian Sharifi said the Taliban were unlikely to fully expel the TTP from Afghanistan’s territory in the near term, citing historical and ideological ties between the two groups.
At the same time, ties between the Taliban and India have visibly warmed, fuelling Pakistani concerns over New Delhi’s influence in Afghanistan. In the past three months alone, senior Taliban officials — including the foreign, commerce and health ministers — have visited New Delhi.
Some analysts say India is seeking to use improved relations with the Taliban to strengthen its political and security position in the region, taking advantage of the growing rift between Islamabad and Taliban.
