Defence Minister urges Kabul to end terror sanctuaries

ISLAMABAD: Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Thursday said Pakistan has repeatedly raised concerns about militant sanctuaries inside Afghanistan and warned that the country can no longer tolerate safe havens that provide refuge to terrorists, ARY News reported.

Asif, speaking at the National Assembly, said he and senior security officials visited Afghanistan three years ago and warned Kabul that militants were operating from Afghan soil. He said Pakistani delegations had repeatedly asked Afghan authorities to close those hideouts and stop patronage of militants, but received no firm guarantees.

“We told Afghan officials that 6,000–7,000 people were settled on your soil who pose a threat to us,” Khawaja Asif said, adding that Kabul even suggested a financial arrangement to keep those people there. “We demanded guarantees that these individuals would not return to Pakistan — but Afghan authorities were not willing to give those assurances.”

Khawaja Asif said meetings with Afghan officials on multiple forums yielded no concrete success and that the issue has now reached a critical point after recent fatalities among Pakistani security personnel. He proposed sending a high-level delegation to Kabul to press the point face-to-face, saying: “A suggestion is that within two days a delegation should go to Kabul and tell Afghan authorities this is unbearable.”

The defence minister expressed frustration with decades-long refugee dynamics, noting that millions of Afghan migrants have lived in Pakistan for 40–50 years and that subsequent generations have not demonstrated loyalty to Pakistan in his view. “They still fly old Taliban flags and many have become wealthy here through business, yet some repay the host country with hostility,” Khawaja Asifsaid.

Warning that Pakistan’s patience had run out, Asif said the state must be united in responding to those who provide safe havens to terrorists — whether those havens are inside Afghanistan or elsewhere. “We will respond to those who give shelter to terrorists,” he said. “Enough is enough — our patience has been exhausted.”

Khawaja Asif stressed civilian and political unity with the armed forces on the issue and called on all political actors to clearly stand “with Pakistan or with the terrorists,” adding that there should be no political debate over supporting the country and its armed forces.

He also hailed recent military successes under field leadership, saying Pakistan’s standing had improved internationally following victories against the adversary. But he warned that leniency toward facilitators and sanctuary-providers would not be tolerated, and those who shelter militants — wherever they are — will face consequences, Khawaja Asif said.

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