WASHINGTON: Pakistan has told the United Nations Security Council that militant sanctuaries inside Afghanistan pose a grave threat to its national security, calling for stronger international action to dismantle cross-border networks.
At the UN Security Council briefing on the situation in Afghanistan (UNAMA), Pakistan’s UN envoy Asim Iftikhar Ahmed named groups including Al Qaeda, ISIL-Khorasan, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) and Baloch insurgent outfits such as the BLA and Majeed Brigade, Pakistan English newspaper Dawn reported.
“We have credible evidence of collaboration among these groups through joint training, illicit weapons trade, refuge to terrorists and coordinated attacks,” he said.
More than 60 terrorist camps function as hubs for infiltration, targeting civilians, security forces and development projects inside Pakistan, he added.
The Taliban authorities must also fulfill their international obligations on counter terrorism. Terrorism emanating from Afghanistan remains the gravest threat to Pakistan’s national security. Terrorist entities including ISIL-K, Al-Qaeda, TTP, ETIM, BLA and the Majeed Brigade… pic.twitter.com/bUeZBwxoXl
— Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the UN (@PakistanUN_NY) September 17, 2025
The ambassador stressed that the threat extended into cyberspace, with at least 70 extremist propaganda accounts traced to Afghan servers. He urged social media companies to cooperate more closely with governments in shutting such networks down.
Pakistan, backed by China, has also asked the Security Council’s 1267 Sanctions Committee to formally blacklist the BLA and the Majeed Brigade. Islamabad has long accused both groups of staging deadly attacks on security forces and development projects.
Ahmed described the TTP as the largest UN-designated group now based in Afghanistan, with nearly 6,000 fighters.
He said Pakistani forces had intercepted infiltration attempts and seized advanced weaponry left behind after the withdrawal of international troops. “These efforts come at a heavy price,” he added.
while four years of Taliban rule had ended decades of civil war, the country remained mired in sanctions, poverty, narcotics and human rights concerns, he said.
