ISLAMABAD — A senior adviser to Pakistan’s prime minister, Rana Sanaullah, has said that the Taliban support militant groups carrying out attacks inside Pakistan, alleging that they are facilitating a proxy war against Islamabad.
He said that while the Afghan people stand with Pakistan, the Taliban provide safe havens and logistical support to militant groups.
“The Afghan government—not the Afghan people—operates as a proxy force,” Sanaullah said in a televised interview. “They provide facilities for terrorists, who then launch attacks from there.”
Meanwhile, the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Ali Amin Gandapur, said the federal government has yet to allow provincial officials to engage in talks with the Taliban, despite a worsening security situation in the region.
“If we do not take steps now, the situation will deteriorate further,” Gandapur said. “I told them negotiations with Afghanistan must take place. They criticized me, but dialogue is the way conflicts are resolved worldwide.”
Pakistan has witnessed a series of deadly militant attacks in recent months. On Sunday, a suicide bomber targeted a convoy of Pakistani soldiers in Balochistan, killing at least five soldiers and wounding 15 others.
Pakistani officials have frequently blamed India and the Afghan Taliban for supporting militants operating inside Pakistan, a claim both New Delhi and Kabul deny.
Following last week’s hostage crisis on the Jaffar Express train, carried out by the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), Pakistan’s military and foreign ministry alleged that the attackers had links to Afghanistan. Some Pakistani officials also accused India of being behind the attack.
Both the Taliban and Indian authorities have rejected Islamabad’s allegations, saying Pakistan is trying to deflect attention from its own security failures.
As violence escalates, Pakistan’s federal government is drafting a national counterterrorism strategy to address rising attacks in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Pakistani media reports indicate that the plan includes harsher measures against militant groups and an expanded security crackdown.
Meanwhile, the country’s Afghan refugees, many of whom have lived in Pakistan for decades, remain caught in the political crossfire. Less than two weeks remain before the deadline for Pakistan’s forced deportations of undocumented Afghan refugees, raising further concerns about their fate amid the growing tensions.
