A senior Taliban leader in Afghanistan has indicated that they will continue to provide refuge to anti-Pakistan militants, describing them as "guests" under the country's traditions.
Taliban Information Minister Khairullah Khairkhwa made the rare remarks just days after the Pakistani military reportedly conducted airstrikes against suspected terrorist locations in an eastern Afghan border province.
The Taliban claimed that Tuesday's attack in Paktika resulted in the deaths of nearly 50 civilians, predominantly refugees from Pakistan. While the claims could not be verified from independent sources, the United Nations said that it had "received credible reports" from the remote Afghan province that dozens of civilians, including women and children, were killed in the Pakistani airstrikes.
Islamabad has refrained from publicly acknowledging the cross-border strikes, but Pakistani security officials anonymously confirmed and told reporters that the military action had targeted and destroyed several "terrorist hideouts" of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an outlawed group engaged in lethal attacks against Pakistan. Several key TTP commanders were also said to be among more than a dozen militants killed.
"We must honor the Afghan nation's commitment to safeguarding these guests, friends," an angry Khairkhwa said while denouncing the Pakistani attack. He was apparently referring to the TTP in his speech aired by Taliban-controlled state television and shared via X social media platform Friday.
The Taliban minister emphasized the need for Pakistan "to draw lessons from the consequences of military interventions" in Afghanistan by Britain, the former Soviet Union and the United States, respectively, since the 19th century.
"Anyone who attacks Afghanistan or harbors such intentions must learn from the defeat of three superpowers," Khairkhwa asserted.
This is the first public admission by a senior Taliban leader regarding the presence of TTP operatives in the country. Previously, Taliban officials have vehemently denied their existence, claiming that no foreign militants are permitted to operate and pose a threat to other nations from Afghan soil.
TTP, designated as a global terrorist organization by the United Nations, has escalated attacks in Pakistan since the Taliban's August 2021 resurgence to power in Kabul, killing hundreds of Pakistani civilians and security personnel.
On Friday, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed his government's intention to enhance economic and trade relations with Afghanistan. However, he stated that the threat of TTP-led cross-border terrorism impedes that progress.
"Unfortunately, the TTP continues to operate from there and killing innocent people inside Pakistan. This cannot go on," Sharif said in his televised remarks to a Cabinet meeting in Islamabad. "They must rein in TTP. … This constitutes a red line for us. The TTP operating from Afghan soil is unacceptable under any circumstances," he stressed.
Sharif said his country was ready to talk with the Afghan government to address the issue. "But there can be no progress if, on the one hand, they seek to foster relations with Pakistan while simultaneously permitting TTP to operate with impunity," he emphasized.
Separately, the Pakistani military reported Friday that its counterterrorism operations and clashes with TTP militants resulted in the killings of over 900 "terrorists" this year, including 27 Afghan suicide bombers and fighters. The violence also left nearly 400 Pakistani security forces and officers dead, said Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, the military spokesperson.
Who is Khairkhwa?
Khairkhwa, a U.N.-sanctioned Taliban leader, was captured by U.S. forces in collaboration with Pakistani counterparts in early 2002 and subsequently transferred to the U.S. Guantanamo Bay prison center. He was freed along with four other senior Taliban leaders in 2014 as part of a Qatar-mediated exchange for the release of U.S. soldier Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.
Following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, American and Western-allied forces invaded Afghanistan, overthrowing the then-Taliban government due to its refusal to surrender Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaida, who was accused of orchestrating the deadly attacks from his Afghan bases.
The Taliban leadership at the time justified its refusal to surrender bin Laden, asserting that he was a "guest" in the country and that surrendering him would violate local traditions.
Subsequently, the Taliban regrouped and launched an insurgency against U.S.-led foreign forces, using sanctuaries on Pakistani soil. Bin Laden evaded capture and fled to Pakistan, where he was eventually tracked down and killed by American troops in 2011.
Taliban leaders pledged to combat transnational militant networks to prevent them from using Afghanistan as a haven for global attacks after they seized power three years ago.
However, an annual U.S. terrorism report released earlier this month cast doubts on Taliban counterterrorism commitments, citing TTP's growing attacks against Pakistan from Afghan sanctuaries and the threat transnational groups pose to regional stability from Afghanistan.
