Dar urges OIC to press Taliban to end terrorism

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday called on the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to press the Afghan Taliban to take concrete and verifiable action against terrorist groups using Afghan territory, particularly for attacks on Pakistan.

Speaking at a meeting of the OIC Contact Group on Afghanistan on the sidelines of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly in New York, Dar said Pakistan was the first country to open its doors to Afghans after the US withdrawal in August 2021. He recalled that Pakistan hosted the 17th extraordinary session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers in December 2021 to mobilise support for Afghanistan.

But he said expectations of the OIC and the international community remained unfulfilled. The Taliban, he said, had failed to seize the opportunity to integrate Afghanistan with the wider world and improve lives, citing what he called misplaced priorities and flawed ideologies.

Dar said the foremost requirement was concrete and verifiable actions to prevent Afghan soil from being used for terrorism against neighbouring countries. He said attacks against Pakistan were planned and orchestrated from Afghanistan with external backing to destabilise the region.

He named more than two dozen terrorist groups he said were present inside Afghanistan, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Balochistan Liberation Army, Majeed Brigade, ISIL-K, Al-Qaida and ETIM, and said they threatened regional and international security.

Dar said Pakistani law enforcement agencies were making enormous sacrifices and referred to the suicide bombing at a mosque in Kohat the previous week, which he said killed at least 24 Pakistanis. He thanked Qatar, Türkiye and Saudi Arabia for their mediation efforts.

He said the OIC, as the collective voice of the Muslim world, should urge the Taliban to eliminate terrorism and end patronage of terrorist groups, and not allow Afghan soil to be used for orchestrating attacks on neighbours. He also called on the Taliban to honour international obligations, curb trafficking through illegal smuggling networks, lift restrictions on women and girls, and adopt politically inclusive governance.

Dar said the ninth OIC Ministerial Conference on Women held in Islamabad in July 2026 had expressed deep concern over restrictions on girls’ education and women’s employment in Afghanistan. He urged the Taliban to facilitate resettlement and integration of Afghan returnees and said international donors must provide adequate humanitarian funding.

He commended the OIC office in Kabul, the Afghanistan Humanitarian Trust Fund and the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre.

Dar said no country desires normalcy and stability in Afghanistan more than Pakistan, and no country has suffered more from Afghanistan’s instability and insecurity. He reaffirmed Pakistan’s support for a stable Afghanistan but said it would require mutual respect, sincerity and demonstration of necessary political will by the Taliban.

Tensions between Pakistan and the Taliban government have escalated over cross-border militancy. Islamabad maintains militants linked to the TTP operate from Afghan territory, while Kabul denies the allegations and accuses Pakistan of violating Afghan sovereignty through strikes. Pakistan has said substantive engagement cannot resume until Kabul takes concrete and verifiable action against banned groups. Balochistan Pulse separately reported that rising evidence was challenging the Taliban’s denials about terrorism emanating from Afghan soil.