Pakistan - Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)
Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed 15 October 2025 to a 48-hour “temporary ceasefire” following deadly border clashes that killed more than a dozen civilians, Islamabad said. The truce, requested by Kabul, comes after Pakistani air strikes in Kandahar and Kabul provinces and marks the worst violence between the two neighbours since the Taliban seized power in 2021. The fighting along the volatile, contested frontier shattered a fragile peace after weekend clashes that killed dozens, the worst between the two Islamic countries since the Taliban seized power in Kabul in 2021. A Pakistani foreign ministry statement said that the two countries had decided to implement a "temporary ceasefire" for 48 hours starting 1300 GMT. Pakistan, which had accused the Taliban government – in power since August 2021 – of providing a haven to armed groups, particularly the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which Islamabad blamed for a surge in attacks on its security forces. Pakistan’s army said 11 October 2025 it had killed more than 200 fighters with the Taliban and their allies while Afghanistan says it has killed 58 Pakistani soldiers in the cross-border clashes. At least 2,414 deaths had been recorded in the first three quarters of this year, according to the Centre for Research and Security Studies, an Islamabad-based think tank.
For decades, Pakistan was considered a patron of the Taliban, which first came to power in 1996. Pakistan was believed to wield significant influence over the group, providing it with shelter, funding and diplomatic backing. After the US-led invasion of Afghanistan following the 9/11 attacks, many Taliban leaders sought refuge in Pakistan. Amid US drone attacks in Pakistan’s border regions, the Pakistan Taliban (TTP) emerged. The TTP has long waged an armed campaign against Pakistan. The group wants to implement strict Islamic law, has demanded the release of its imprisoned members, and calls for a reversal of the merger of Pakistan’s tribal areas with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Despite sharing ideological ties with the Taliban in Afghanistan, the TTP launched a violent campaign against Pakistan. The Pakistani military has conducted several operations to eliminate the TTP, pushing many of its leaders into Afghanistan. When the Taliban regained control of Kabul in 2021, Pakistan hoped to leverage its historic ties to curb TTP activity. However, a surge in attacks within Pakistan since then suggests these efforts have failed.
The Pakistani government insists the TTP – which is distinct from the Afghan Taliban but ideologically aligned in many respects – operates from Afghan territory. It blames Kabul for allowing sanctuary and has repeatedly described the group using the Arabic-derived term “khwarij”, a historical epithet for an extremist sect that branded other Muslims as “apostates”. Kabul, however, has repeatedly rejected these allegations. Last month, Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesperson for the Taliban government, warned against “provocative” statements and urged cooperation.
Two senior members of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) extremist group were killed 09 October 2025 in unprecedented Pakistani drone strikes in the Afghan capital, marking a major escalation of tensions between the two side. The target of the strikes in Kabul was Noor Wali Mehsud, the leader of the TTP, which is also known as the Pakistani Taliban. It was not clear if Mehsud was killed in the strikes. A TTP source said the militant leader was alive but two "important" members of the group were killed, without disclosing their names.
Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi called the Afghan attacks “unprovoked” and accused Afghan forces of firing on civilians. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned what he described as a “provocation by Afghanistan in Pakistan’s border areas.” He added, “There will be no compromise on Pakistan’s defence, and every provocation will be met with a strong and effective response.”
Longtime allies, the sides had fallen out over the Afghan Taliban's alleged sheltering of the TTP, which has waged a deadly insurgency against Islamabad for years. The Taliban returned to power in August 2021 as international troops left Afghanistan.
The attacks in Kabul were followed by suspected Pakistani air strikes in the eastern Afghan province of Paktika, which borders Pakistan, early October 10. Witnesses said a market selling second-hand weapons, a shop selling computers, and a restaurant were hit. No casualties were reported. In a statement issued on October 10, the Taliban's Defense Ministry condemned what it said were Pakistani air strikes in Paktika and Islamabad's violation of "Kabul's sovereign territory."
Pakistan's military spokesman, in a televised press conference on October 10, did not directly respond when asked if Islamabad was responsible for the attacks. "To safeguard Pakistani lives and properties, what measures need to be taken will be taken," General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry told reporters.
Heavy fighting broke out between Pakistani and Afghan forces at multiple locations along the border, and the rival sides claim to have captured and destroyed border posts in one of the worst border clashes in recent years. The Taliban administration’s spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said at least 58 Pakistani soldiers were killed in “retaliatory” attacks on Saturday night, two days after blasts were reported in Kabul and the southeastern province of Paktika. The Pakistani military admitted 23 of its soldiers were killed while claiming to have killed more than 200 Taliban and affiliated fighters. Earlier, Pakistan’s interior minister called the Afghan attacks “unprovoked firing”.
Pakistani military’s media wing, which said, “according to credible intelligence estimates and damage assessment, more than 200 Taliban” and other fighters were killed, adding that “the number of injured is much higher”. “The infrastructural damages to Taliban posts, camps, Headquarters and support networks of terrorists are extensive, all along the border and range from tactical to operational depth,” it added.
The attacks inside Afghanistan came two days after the TTP killed 11 Pakistani security personnel, including a lieutenant colonel and a major, in an assault in northwestern Pakistan. Ibraheem Bahiss, a Kabul-based senior analyst for the International Crisis Group, said the clashes were “primarily driven by what was happening inside Pakistan in recent days”. “Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan had ratcheted up its attacks against Pakistani military, leading to significant casualties of soldiers, including officer-ranked personnel, too,” he told Al Jazeera. “That perhaps was the main motivator behind the air strikes [in Kabul] on Thursday in a much more escalatory manner.”
Former US ambassador to Afghanistan and Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad posted on X that "Pakistani strikes against Afghanistan's capital are a huge escalation and pose dangerous risks." Khalilzad added that "military escalation between Pakistan and Afghanistan is not the answer. It is unlikely to work and will increase death and destruction in both countries."
Analyst Ibraheem Bahiss said 12 October 2025 both Pakistan and Afghanistan are seeking to avoid a broader conflict along the border. “I feel that the priority for both Islamabad and Kabul is to de-escalate. Neither side wants major escalation on their frontiers as they are already grappling with several issues,” Bahiss, an analyst at the International Crisis Group, told Al Jazeera. “The Afghan Taliban will want to avoid this because of the disparity in the firepower available to the two sides, which would be a big factor for Kabul to not pursue escalation.” Bahiss pointed out the Taliban’s limited retaliation was meant to “reassure their domestic audience”. “I think they have done what they wanted to do, … showing that they are in control of the situation and can avenge any strikes inside their territory.”
The strikes coincided with a groundbreaking trip by Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi to India, Pakistan's archenemy. Muttaqi arrived in New Delhi on October 10 for a week of talks, in the Taliban's highest-level visit to the country since the hard-line Islamist group took power. During the first day of talks between Taliban and Indian officials, New Delhi announced it was upgrading its mission in Kabul to a full embassy. The sides were also expected to discuss trade and economic ties. The Taliban's outreach to India as well as the TTP's increasing attacks in Pakistan is "taking the situation towards a very serious level," said Mansoor Mehsud, director of the Islamabad-based FATA Research Center. "Pakistan will react more seriously, and this will make the situation dangerous," he said.
The Pakistani military had previously conducted air strikes inside Afghan territory, the most recent one in December 2024. However, after a bloody 2024, one of Pakistan’s deadliest years in nearly a decade, with more than 2,500 people killed in violence, Islamabad and Kabul tried to reset their relationship. In April, Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar visited Kabul, with senior leadership on both sides holding a series of meetings, often mediated by China. That process led to upgraded diplomatic ties and a brief lull in violence over the summer.
Iftikhar Firdous, cofounder of The Khorasan Diary, a portal that tracks regional security developments, said, “There has been no overarching commitment by the Afghan Taliban to act against the TTP in Afghanistan.” “This is likely to never happen,” he told Al Jazeera, adding that the Taliban is a “grey entity in a world that no longer differentiates between black and white”. “I don’t see any end to the TTP while the idea of the Taliban exists. Pakistan’s failed calculus to have a controlled Taliban government in Afghanistan has had detrimental consequences, and the next biggest mistake would be to expect that its internal security challenges will disappear by negotiating with the Taliban.”
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