Afghanistan emerged as a central focus of discussions at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) foreign ministers’ meeting in Kyrgyzstan on Friday, with Pakistan saying Taliban have harboured militant groups while Iran reaffirmed support for an inclusive government in the country.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said militant groups, including the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), continued to recruit, train and launch attacks from Afghan territory.
“These terrorist organizations continue to operate from Afghanistan under the supervision and facilitation of the Afghan Taliban regime,” Dar said.
He urged SCO member states to press the Taliban to honor their counterterrorism commitments, saying the TTP had used Afghanistan as a base to carry out attacks against Pakistani security forces and civilians. Dar said more than 560 Pakistanis had been killed in more than 2,000 militant attacks this year and alleged that Afghan nationals had been involved in some of the incidents.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi described Afghanistan’s stability as strategically important for the region and said Tehran supported any initiative that would lead to “a secure, stable, developed and terrorism-free Afghanistan with an inclusive government.”
Araghchi also called for an end to tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan, saying regional cooperation through the SCO was essential to addressing terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking, irregular migration and other shared security challenges.
The Taliban have repeatedly rejected allegations that militant groups operate from Afghanistan’s territory or that Afghan soil is being used to threaten other countries, saying they remain committed to preventing attacks against neighboring states.
The remarks highlighted Afghanistan’s continued prominence on the regional security agenda, as neighboring countries weigh how to engage with the Taliban while pressing them to address militancy and form a more inclusive government.
