Afghan envoy urges dialogue with Pakistan, denies territory used for attacks

ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan wants to resolve differences with Pakistan through dialogue rather than “pressure or force,” its envoy in Islamabad has said in a speech posted on the embassy’s website on Tuesday, insisting that Afghan territory would not be used to threaten another country after months of deadly fighting between the neighbors over cross-border militancy.

Relations between the two countries have deteriorated sharply over Pakistan’s accusations that Afghanistan’s Taliban government shelters and supports Pakistani Taliban militants behind a surge in attacks, a charge Kabul denies. The dispute has triggered repeated border clashes, Pakistani airstrikes inside Afghanistan and the suspension of bilateral and transit trade.

“We believe that an atmosphere of trust cannot be created through pressure or force,” Afghan Ambassador Sardar Ahmad Shakeeb said in an address marking five years since the Taliban returned to power. “It can only be built through understanding, sustained dialogue, and sincere cooperation.”

Shakeeb said differences between neighbors were natural but should not push them further apart, calling instead for “dialogue, mutual respect, and political wisdom.”

“Afghanistan does not pursue a policy of confrontation, nor does it allow its territory to be used against the security and stability of any other country,” he said.

“In the same spirit, we hope and remain confident that Afghanistan’s legitimate security concerns will be understood and respected, and that no country will allow its territory to be used against Afghanistan.”

Pakistan says militants belonging to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella organization separate from Afghanistan’s Taliban, have found sanctuary across the border and used Afghan territory to plan and launch increasingly deadly attacks in Pakistan.

A United Nations sanctions monitoring team said in a report late last year that Taliban assertions that no militant groups operated in or from Afghanistan were “not credible” and that the TTP had conducted numerous high-profile attacks in Pakistan from Afghan soil.
Security tensions have been building for years.

Pakistan in October 2023 ordered undocumented migrants to leave the country after a surge in militant violence, saying at the time that Afghan nationals had carried out 14 of 24 suicide bombings recorded in Pakistan that year. About 1.7 million Afghans were estimated to be living in Pakistan without documentation when the drive was announced.

Islamabad said the expulsions applied to all undocumented foreigners and were a security measure, while the Taliban government and rights groups criticized the campaign, which overwhelmingly affected Afghans.

Relations deteriorated further last October when some of the deadliest fighting between Pakistani and Afghan forces since the Taliban takeover erupted along their roughly 2,600-km (1,600-mile) frontier.

Pakistan has since carried out repeated airstrikes inside Afghanistan, saying it is targeting militant hideouts and infrastructure after attacks on Pakistani civilians and security forces.

In March, the Taliban government said a Pakistani airstrike hit a drug rehabilitation center in Kabul, killing hundreds of people. Pakistan rejected the allegation as false and said its forces had “precisely targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure,” with operations carefully planned to avoid collateral damage.

Tensions between the two countries have also exacted an economic cost. Pakistan has kept its border crossings closed for bilateral trade with Afghanistan since October 2025 and halted the movement of Afghan transit cargo through its ports, although it has allowed some humanitarian shipments to cross.

Diplomatic efforts by Qatar, Türkiye and China have repeatedly sought to prevent the confrontation from escalating, though the central dispute between Pakistan and Afghanistan over militant attacks has persisted.

Shakeeb said Afghanistan wanted relations with Pakistan based on “equality of sovereignty, non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, and the pursuit of shared interests.”

“Our vision is clear: an Afghanistan that is not a field for geopolitical competition, but a bridge for regional connectivity, trade, transit, dialogue, and cooperation,” he said.