Pakistan Tells UN: 4,700 Killed in Attacks From Afghan Soil

Key takeaways

Pakistan told the UN that more than 4,700 Pakistanis were killed in three years in attacks launched from Afghan soil. It urged Kabul to act against militant groups and warned it would exercise self-defence if attacks continue.

Flat conceptual illustration of a curved conference podium with microphones against a deep blue assembly-hall backdrop — Illustration: WHAT TODAY?

Pakistan has told the United Nations that more than 4,700 Pakistanis have been killed over the past three years in terrorist attacks launched from Afghan soil, accusing the Taliban authorities in Kabul of letting militant groups operate with impunity. Counsellor Muhammad Jawad Ajmal delivered the statement at the UN Human Rights Council’s interactive dialogue on Afghanistan on Thursday, warning that Pakistan would exercise its right to self-defence if the attacks continue.

Ajmal named the groups Pakistan holds responsible, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), the Majeed Brigade, Al-Qaeda, ISIL-K and the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), along with their affiliates. He alleged close links between the Taliban and these groups, said they operate freely on Afghan soil with external backing, and argued that Kabul’s failure to publicly denounce them raises serious questions about its complicity.

The statement also pointed to Pakistan’s own military response. Referring to action taken on March 16, Ajmal said Pakistan had precisely targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure allegedly used by the TTP against Pakistani civilians, and would act in self-defence when necessary and in accordance with international law.

The human rights case alongside the security case

The security warning was paired with a human rights argument. Ajmal said the deteriorating rights situation in Afghanistan reflected the Taliban’s continued disregard for their international obligations, with women and girls denied fundamental freedoms and basic dignity through practices he said were also inconsistent with Islamic law and the tenets of the Muslim faith.

He cited the ninth Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Ministerial Conference on Women, hosted by Pakistan in Islamabad in July 2026, at which the Islamabad Declaration expressed concern that Taliban restrictions on women and girls were inconsistent with Islamic values.

The UN’s own expert was equally blunt: Special Rapporteur Richard Bennett said that five years after seizing power, the Taliban had shown no willingness to reverse systematic violations, and had deepened restrictions on women and girls. He urged member states not to normalise relations with Kabul “until they reversed their oppressive policies”. His report documented arbitrary detention, torture, sexual violence, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings.

Why it matters

The statement matters because it links the two issues directly: Pakistan is framing cross-border terrorism as a breach of Afghanistan’s international obligations, raised in the same forum where the UN’s human rights machinery is already pressing Kabul. The self-defence warning gives that argument teeth, and it comes in a week when Pakistani forces destroyed Afghan Taliban posts along the border after cross-border firing at Angoor Adda.

For Pakistan, the 4,700 figure puts a scale on a threat that has shaped security policy and the ongoing emergency measures in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

What’s next

Three things will show where this goes. First, whether Kabul responds to the specific allegations, including the named groups and the charge of complicity. Second, whether other Council members pick up Pakistan’s call to hold off on normalising relations until conditions improve. Third, whether the border stays quiet or produces another exchange like the one at Angoor Adda.

Sources