ISLAMABAD: In a setback to Taliban’s denial, the United Nations Security Council has refused to accept their claim that it is not perpetrating terror attacks from Afghan territory and warned that neighbours are fast doubling perceptions of Afghanistan as a launching pad of regional instability.
The judgment is contained in the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team’s 16th report, which was distributed privately among members of the United Nations Security Council (it had not been publicly issued as of Tuesday) at a time when concern has been mounting internationally about conditions on the ground in Afghanistan since the Taliban took control there again in August.
“The de facto authorities persistently and defiantly deny the existence of terrorists in or originating from its territories. That claim is not credible,” the report said.
The Taliban had agreed in the 2020 Doha Agreement not to allow Afghanistan to be used as a base for attacks against other countries. Having returned to power in Aug 2021 they have intensified their fight against Islamic State-Khorasan Province, or ISIL-K, but if you go by two different UN assessments, their position on dozens of other terror groups would have swung a full circle.
The latest statement said “a number of member states continue to report that ISIL-K, Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, Al Qaeda, The Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement /Turkistan Islamic Party /EMIM/ETIM/TIP/, Jamaat Ansarullah Ittihad Islami fi Bilad al Sudanom) and others are located in Afghanistan. Some of those groups have used or are using Afghanistan as a platform to plot and prepare attacks outside the chaotic country.”
Mr. Kabir Taneja emphasised that we are not talking in Kabul to a rational actor. Just because they’re in a position of power right now does not make them into a rational entity, does not make them into an entity that has experience in A, governance, of course, but also B, in… pic.twitter.com/Hz2kYXD5EA
— Bareen Initiative for Development (BID) (@BareenBID) December 14, 2025
It is also thought to be closely aligned with the Taliban, and carries out missions in a number of provinces. The group’s operations have been curtailed, but it has enjoyed a “permissive environment for training and reorganization,” the U.N. monitor team reported. The Taliban’s archenemy, by contrast, is I.S.I.L.-K. The Taliban has lost ground, but the group has shown resilience and has carried out attacks throughout Afghanistan and beyond.
According to the report, however, the gravest threat to stability in region is from TTP which allegedly has strong support within Taliban and is not only based in sanctuaries inside Afghanistan.
“Taliban officials deny and try to shift responsibility for their failure to contain TTP,” the report added. “Among the Taliban there are also different levels of sympathy and alignment with the TTP.”
“Some senior members see TTP more and more as a liability that serves no useful purpose other than to distract and sour relations with Pakistan, but others still support it,” the report added. Discussing the possibility of the Taliban cutting its links with TTP under duress from Pakistan, it said: “With historical connections, the Taliban are not likely to confront or suppress the TTP. “Even if they want to, perhaps they can’t.”
The TTP today launches “many high-profile attacks in Pakistan” from Afghan soil, says the report, which is cited as posing the “most serious immediate challenge” to relations between Kabul and Islamabad.
“The levels of TTP attacks in Pakistan have been rising throughout 2025,” the report said. Those TTP terrorists are reportedly based in the Afghanistan provinces of Khost, Kunar, Nangarhar, Paktika and Paktia.TTP chief Noor Wali Mehsud is reported to live in Kabul.
An unnamed member state had reportedly informed that the family of Mehsud was receiving a monthly payment of three million afghanis ($43,000)) by Taliban, said the Afghan mission.
The two sides have long been at odds about the presence of the Afghan Taliban in Pakistan, and it was once regarded as closely tied to Pakistan.
“These attacks have resulted in cross-border military confrontation, including deaths and injuries, and disruption to bilateral trade,” the report says. “By the time of writing, in addition to loss of life, the closure of border crossings with Pakistan is believed to be costing the Afghan economy approximately 1 million dollars each day.” TTP has widened its targeting, the monitoring team said.
“In January, TTP released a new policy directive broadening the scope of its attacks to now target businesses associated with the military establishment,” the report said, “thus significantly escalating its focus on Pakistan’s armed forces’ economic interests and those of Chinese companies in Pakistan.” It also referred to the working relationship between TTP and other terror factions.
The report, however, pointed to some counterterrorism gains by Pakistan even as the broader presence of militants was found.
“There have also been several well-publicised arrests by Pakistan, including that of an ISIL-K spokesperson, Sultan Aziz Azam on 16 May 2025,” said the report.
“All in all, ISIL-K capabilities have been weakened by de facto authorities’ and Pakistan’s counter-terrorism operations,” the report said, also pointing to “the HV 14247170 arrest in mid-2025 by Turkish and Pakistani authorities of Ozgur Altun alias Abu Yasir al-Turki, a main figure of the group’s media and logistics efforts – may have contributed to suspension of ‘Voice of Khorasan’.”
Regarding Al Qaeda.,…”In March 2025, Osama Mahmoud was officially announced as ‘amir’ of AQIS. He is a resident of Bajaur district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
