The year, 2025, will be ending in less than two weeks but there is no end in sight for the wave of terrorism in Pakistan. Ever since the fall of Kabul in August 2021, terrorist attacks by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan increased in the country. Pakistan has urged the Afghan Taliban regime to rein in the TTP and other affiliated terrorist networks operating from Afghanistan and carrying out cross-border terrorism, but so far there has been no change in the Taliban’s policy despite mediation by Qatar, Turkey and even Saudi Arabia. By some estimates, 2025 has been the deadliest year for Pakistan. According to The Khorasan Diary, “As of November 15, 2025, Pakistan has witnessed its deadliest year in the past 24 years of violence since September 11, 2001. All major indicators, including the number of attacks, fatalities, and injuries, have reached their highest levels since the term terrorism first began to be used in its contemporary context in Pakistan.”
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has urged the international community to pressure the Afghan Taliban to fulfil its responsibilities, international obligations and commitments and underscored the emergence of a new terrorist threat from Afghanistan. Last month, the head of the United Nations Security Council’s ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee backed Pakistan’s position that Afghan territory is being used to stage terrorist attacks in the country, warning that the TTP poses a serious threat to regional security.
In September, Pakistan, China, Iran and Russia jointly expressed deep concern over the presence of terrorist organisations operating from Afghanistan. The joint statement warned that apart from the TTP and the Balochistan Liberation Army, Afghanistan is hosting terrorist organisations like the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, al Qaida, the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement and Jaish-ul-Adl, among others. Afghanistan being a new hub of terrorism does not bode well for anyone. Iran recently held a meeting of Afghanistan’s neighbouring countries as well as Russia but the Afghan Taliban chose not to attend. It was said that Afghanistan’s stability hinges on its integration into regional political and economic structures. This shows how its neighbours want to work with Kabul but it is the Taliban’s own policies that hinder a path towards peace. Regional powers and other allies will have to come up with a proper strategy to end cross-border terrorism from Afghan soil.
Apart from terrorism, the political situation in Pakistan is also fraught. The Tehreek Tahaffuz-e-Ain Pakistan, an Opposition alliance, whose name translates into a movement to protect the Constitution of Pakistan, will hold a consultative conference in Islamabad on December 20-21 to discuss the political climate and other related issues. The political temperature is quite high, leading many politicians to suggest that a national dialogue needs to be held in order to bring some sanity back to politics. Many in the Opposition alliance believe that there can be no way forward without talking to political stakeholders as the political space for Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is fast-shrinking despite its popularity. Thus, a new way forward is needed where the political class decides the rules of the game.
I remember writing in these pages exactly a year ago, in December 2024, that talks with political parties are the only way forward. I wrote: “And we hope that the year 2025 finally sees an end to the political chaos that we have witnessed in the last two years. Political space can only be created by political forces, and only this can lead to less political chaos and more cohesion.” It seems like I am going to repeat myself again a year later. But the difference may be that things have changed on the ground in many ways, especially with the 27th Amendment to the Constitution that has overhauled the military and the judicial structures. This is why it is important for political parties to sit together and resolve their differences. Without national dialogue, we will see more political polarisation and a weakened democracy. Both the external and the internal challenges we face today need more unity, not less.
Mehmal Sarfraz is a journalist based in Lahore; mehmal.s@gmail.com
