The fox has reported a break-in at the henhouse. No phrase captures the absurdity of this moment better than this old clich. Pakistan has urged the United Nations to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a “breeding ground for terror”.
The warning, delivered by Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UN, Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, focussed on the threat posed by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other militants operating from Afghan soil.
Addressing a UN General Assembly session on Afghanistan, Ahmad claimed that groups like the TTP, al-Qaida, and ISIS-K are exploiting “ungoverned spaces” in Afghanistan to launch attacks, including recent cross-border incursions into Pakistan. He cited “credible evidence” of TTP collaboration with Baloch separatists such as the Baloch Liberation Army to target Pakistani infrastructure.
The speech conveniently ignored Pakistan’s decades-long support for the Afghan Taliban, which Islamabad nurtured as a proxy force.
It is widely known that Pakistan sheltered the Taliban’s leaders, from its formation in 1994 to its resurgence in 2021.
There is a parallel truth to it — the very force Pakistan once nurtured now appears increasingly estranged from it.
The TTP, an offshoot of the Taliban, has unleashed waves of deadly violence across the country over the years. In 2024, nearly 15,000 Taliban fighters reportedly mobilised towards the Durand Line after Pakistani airstrikes targeted TTP positions inside Afghanistan.
Now, Pakistan is acting shocked as the blowback hits its own soil.
Ambassador Ahmad’s speech also blamed “Indian-backed terrorists” for border infiltrations — a familiar Pakistani trope deflecting blame onto New Delhi. Meanwhile, he glossed over Pakistan’s history of harbouring militants such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), which target both India and Afghanistan.
What must also be noted in light of Pakistan’s ridiculous claims in the UN is that following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, it was the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) that played a significant role in the ensuing upheaval.
The ISI, long accused of maintaining ties with the Taliban, reportedly provided logistical support and strategic guidance to the group during its rapid takeover of Kabul.
This involvement helped the Taliban exploit the power vacuum left by the US, enabling their swift return to power.
The Pakistani ambassador’s plea for international aid to handle Afghan refugees and revive Afghanistan’s economy carries its own contradictions.
The TTP now conducts daily attacks on military outposts, suicide bombings in urban centres, and targeted assassinations. Over 558 people were killed in 2024 alone by the TTP, while border regions like North Waziristan have reportedly become ungovernable because of the outfit.
The TTP’s rise in Pakistan mirrors the Afghan Taliban’s trajectory.
Until Islamabad reckons with its role as an incubator of terrorism, its “warnings”, such as the one given at the UN, will continue to be met with scepticism. Pakistan’s latest statement at the UN is both historical amnesia and audacious hypocrisy. Terrorism, which Pakistan used as a policy against India, has boomeranged.
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