Pakistan president warns Taliban threat rivals pre-9/11 conditions

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Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari said Afghanistan’s Taliban government has created conditions “similar to or worse than” the era before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, in comments Islamabad linked to the fallout from a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque in the capital last week. Zardari spoke as he thanked the international community for condemning the Friday attack, which Pakistan’s government said killed 31 worshippers and wounded 169.

In a statement issued Sunday, Zardari said Pakistan “takes strong exception” to what he described as the Taliban regime’s creation of conditions similar to or worse than pre-9/11 threats, when terror organizations posed risks to global peace. He also said Pakistan had long maintained that terrorism cannot be confronted by any single country in isolation.

Zardari’s remarks did not name India directly, but he said Pakistan’s eastern neighbor was “assisting the Taliban regime and threatening not only Pakistan but regional and global peace.” The stronger rhetoric was likely to strain already tense relations with Kabul and New Delhi, both of which have condemned the mosque attack and denied any involvement.

Pakistan has frequently accused the Afghan Taliban—who returned to power in August 2021—of backing militants, including the Pakistani Taliban known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. Kabul and TTP deny those accusations, according to the report. The episode also echoes earlier international criticism of the Taliban government that ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, which was blamed for sheltering al-Qaida’s Osama bin Laden in the lead-up to Sept. 11; bin Laden was killed in a U.S. operation in Pakistan in May 2011.

After Pakistan’s allegations were reiterated, Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry and India’s government rejected the claims in separate statements, saying Islamabad had irresponsibly linked them to the attack. There was no immediate response cited from India or Afghanistan to Zardari’s latest warnings.

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said the investigation points to an Islamic State-backed operation trained in Afghanistan. Naqvi told reporters that security forces had arrested four suspects, including an Afghan national accused of links to the militant group and of helping mastermind the attack; the detainees included the bomber’s mother and brother-in-law, officials said, adding that investigations were still ongoing. Pakistan has not shared full details about the involvement of the bomber’s family, the report said.

On Monday, Naqvi received telephone calls from his Italian counterpart Matteo Piantedosi and from European Commissioner Magnus Brunner, who condemned the mosque attack. A government statement said Naqvi told them that “Pakistan is a shield for the world against terrorism” and emphasized that “strong global-level measures are needed today to protect the world from terrorism.”

Asif Durrani, a former special representative for Afghanistan, characterized Zardari’s warning as “unambiguous,” writing on X that terrorism thrives when it is tolerated, facilitated, or used as a proxy. Another Islamabad-based analyst, Abdullah Khan, said preliminary findings into the mosque bombing suggest it may reflect a pattern seen in some Islamic State attacks that use close family networks, noting that Islamic State affiliates have recruited entire families in past attacks in Pakistan and Indonesia.

While Pakistan has seen fewer attacks than some other regions, it has faced a recent rise in militant violence, with much of it attributed to Baloch separatist groups and the TTP—described in the report as separate from but allied with the Afghan Taliban. The Islamic State’s regional affiliate has carried out attacks across Afghanistan, according to the coverage.