Pakistan is organizing a meeting of anti-Taliban leaders in Islamabad on August 25th and 26th. Sources indicate that approximately 30 individuals will participate, including leaders of political parties exiled from Afghanistan, social activists, women’s rights advocates, and representatives from protest movements. Senior Pakistani officials will also be in attendance. Discussions will revolve around human rights, the situation of women and girls, and the political future of Afghanistan.
According to sources, the meeting is being held informally and is titled “Pak-Afghan Dialogue – Towards Unity and Trust.” It is an academic event led by the South Asian Strategic Stability Institute University in Islamabad. This move is perceived as Pakistan challenging the Taliban’s authority and constructing an anti-terrorism narrative against them.
Former U.S. envoy to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, criticized Pakistan’s support for the event. He stated that Pakistan is hosting a meeting of anti-Taliban politicians, some of whom seek to violently overthrow the Taliban. Khalilzad emphasized that while Afghan citizens have the right to express their political views, Pakistan’s hosting of this meeting is unwise and provocative. He warned that if the Taliban held an anti-Pakistan gathering, Islamabad would respond in kind, potentially exacerbating the already tense Afghanistan-Pakistan relations. Khalilzad described the move as childish and irresponsible.
Pakistan has stated at the United Nations that it considers the terrorism emanating from Afghanistan a serious threat to regional and global security. Pakistan’s envoy, Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, noted that the situation in Afghanistan remains dangerous, with approximately 2,000 ISIS-K fighters present. Iftikhar told a UN Security Council meeting that while the Taliban administration has fought against ISIS-K, it has not addressed the presence of other groups such as the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Baloch terrorist groups. Ahmad emphasized that the threat to Pakistan is serious and immediate, with the TTP, comprising around 6,000 fighters, being the largest active terrorist group operating from Afghan soil. The Taliban has denied the presence of the TTP and ISIS-K in Afghanistan. However, the UN monitoring committee has reported that the TTP has nearly 6,000 fighters in Afghanistan.
The National Resistance Front of Afghanistan stated that they were invited to the meeting but declined to attend. Pakistan’s foreign ministry has not commented on the meeting. The meeting is taking place at a time when Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi postponed his visit to Pakistan, which was scheduled for last week. Afghanistan, China, and Pakistan’s foreign ministers held a meeting in Kabul on August 20th. The aim of this meeting was to serve the mutual interests of the three countries. Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar arrived in Kabul for trilateral talks with the Chinese Foreign Minister. The trilateral talks were to discuss terrorism, security, and trade between the three countries. No trade deal was made between Pakistan and Afghanistan, but China achieved its goal by securing agreement on the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) up to Kabul.