Khawaja Asif rejects Afghan delegation’s claim that TTP militants are refugees

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has strongly rejected claims made by an Afghan delegation that Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants living in Afghanistan are actually Pakistani refugees returning home.

In a post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), the defence minister questioned the logic behind the Afghan delegation’s explanation, calling it “evidence of ill intent.”

“The Afghan delegation says TTP terrorists residing in Afghanistan are Pakistani refugees returning home. How are they refugees when they are returning heavily armed with destructive weapons?” Asif wrote.

افغانستان وفد کا یہ کہنا کہ ttp کے دھشت گرد اصل میں افغان سر زمین پہ پاکستانی پناہ گزین ھیں جواپنے گھروں میں پاکستان واپس جا رہے ھیں ۔ یہ کیسے پناہ گزین جو اپنے گھروں میں انتہائ تباہ کن اسلحہ سے مسلح ھو کر جارہے ھیں اور سڑکوں کے ذریعے بسوں ٹرک یا گاڑیوں پہ سوار نہیں جا رہے بلکہ…

— Khawaja M. Asif (@KhawajaMAsif) October 30, 2025

He further asked how such individuals could be considered refugees when they were not “traveling home by road, buses, trucks, or vehicles,” but instead “sneaking into Pakistan like thieves through mountainous and difficult routes.”

Calling the Afghan argument “flawed and deceptive,” Khawaja Asif said the claim itself exposed the true intentions behind Kabul’s stance on terrorism.

The minister’s remarks came amid renewed tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan over cross-border militancy, with Islamabad urging Kabul to act against TTP militants using Afghan soil to launch attacks inside Pakistan.

Earlier, Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif warned that Pakistan would not need to employ even a fraction of its “full arsenal” to obliterate the Afghan Taliban.

The defence minister’s remarks came after the talks between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban in Istanbul failed.

In the statement posted on X, Asif said Pakistan engaged in talks with the Taliban — at the request of friendly countries seeking peace — but condemned what he described as “venomous” comments by some Afghan officials, which he said revealed a fractured and dangerous mindset within the Taliban regime.

“If they insist on confrontation, Pakistan does not require even a fraction of its full arsenal to completely obliterate the Taliban regime and push them back into the caves for hiding,” he wrote, evoking the Taliban’s 2001 rout at Tora Bora.