Afghan | Pakistan

Authorities investigating the 24 November suicide attack on the Federal Constabulary (FC) Headquarters in Peshawar have confirmed that all three attackers were Afghan nationals.

Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General (DG) Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry has said that Afghan forces open fire at Pakistani checkposts across the border to facilitate the infiltration of terrorists into the country. He made the comments during a briefing with journalists on November 25, a video of which was released by the ISPR on Friday evening. “Borders are always mutually guarded. Both countries [guard] them. Now, on the other side is such a country whose posts first engage your posts through fire, and an exchange begins. And then they have them (terrorists) pass through the gaps in between,” Lt Gen Chaudhry said. The DG ISPR said one would barely find any “administration” on the borders in terrorism-prone areas, except in “hardly five to 10 per cent” of the areas. “Go to Tirah, Khyber; you will not find any governance. Neither will you find any courts, nor any departments that deal with law enforcement and writ of the government.” The ISPR chief also pointed out that villages and populati...

An Afghan national accused of shooting two National Guard members will be charged with first-degree murder, a US official said Friday, after one of the soldiers died of her wounds as Donald Trump pledged to suspend migration from “third-world countries.” The announcement marks an escalation in charges facing the assailant, identified as 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who the US media said was part of the “Zero Units” — a CIA-backed Afghan paramilitary force. “There are certainly many more charges to come, but we are upgrading the initial charges of assault to murder in the first degree,” Jeanine Pirro, the attorney for Washington, DC, told the Fox News programme ‘Fox & Friends’. “It is a premeditated murder. There was an ambush with a gun toward people who didn’t know what was coming.” Pirro’s announcement comes after Attorney General Pam Bondi pledged on Thursday to “seek the death penalty” against Lakanwal, describing him as a “monster.” Pirro said Lakanwal opened fire with a .357 Smith and Wesson revolv...

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General of Police (IG) Zulfiqar Hameed on Tuesday said the perpetrators of yesterday’s suicide attack on the Federal Constabulary (FC) Headquarters in Peshawar were likely Afghan citizens. Investi­gators and intelligence agencies are hunting for facilitators and support networks behind the attack, which saw three personnel embrace martyrdom and 12 sustain injuries. The attack, which began after a suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance, was swiftly repulsed as personnel engaged and shot his two accomplices dead before they could enter the installation to inflict any major damage. Questioned about the progress of the investigation and whether any evidence had come to the fore about the assailants being Afghan citizens, IG Hameed said: “We are saying this because, based on the evidence so far, when someone does not have a citizenship record, they are assumed to be Afghan or something similar.” He confirmed that authorities had identified the location where the terrorists spen...

A Pakistani diplomat in Afghanistan met a key Afghan governor amid tensions over rising terror incidents in Pakistan, saying efforts were underway to thaw bilateral ties, according to Afghan state media and Pakistani sources who spoke to Dawn. The meeting was held hours after three Federal Constabulary men were martyred in a suicide attack on the force’s headquarters in Peshawar’s Saddar area this morning. Security forces quickly neutralised the attackers. This was the first high-level contact in months between the Pakistani Consul General in Jalalabad, Shafqatullah Khan and Nangarhar Governor Mullah Muhammad Naeem Akhund. Akhund is an important Taliban leader and is considered a confidant of Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada. Governor Akhund has previously served as deputy minister of Borders and Tribal Affairs and deputy minister of Civil Aviation during the Taliban’s first government from 1996-2001. He had played a key role in the Taliban’s military commission during the 20-year war against the ...

The terrorists who attacked the Frontier Constabulary (FC) Headquarters on Monday morning have been identified as Afghan nationals, according to an initial police report.

RAWALPINDI: After observing poor police performance, the Rawalpindi police have formed a special task force capable of detaining Afghan nationals illegally residing in the district and shifting them to the holding centres on a daily basis for their repatriation. According to official sources, the task force comprises 13 special teams each having four personnel, one detective foot constable and one official each from the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), security branch and the Special Branch field staff. Mohammad Saifullah will be heading the Pirwadhai police station team, Waqar Haider Ratta Amral, Shafiqul Hasnain will be heading the Taxila police team, Gulzar Hussain police station Wah Cantt, Omer Farooq police station Saddar Wah Cantt, Azhar police station Mandra, Shahid Jamil police station Jatli, Shahid Mehmood Rawat police station and Mohammad Tasleem police station Saddar Barooni. Likewise, Mohammad Faizan will be heading the team of police station Dhamial, Yasir Iqbal Chontra team, Naeem Raj Wali po...

The information ministry on Thursday said that all terrorists involved in the attack on Cadet College Wana in South Waziristan were Afghan citizens. Security forces confirmed a day ago that they had successfully foiled a terrorist attack on Cadet College Wana, killing all the attackers after an intense clearance operation. The attackers had targeted the main gate of the college on Monday evening and gained entry to the educational institution, but a timely response from security forces averted a major tragedy. Government ministers had linked the attack to Afghanistan and said it was orchestrated from there. “The attack on Cadet College Wana was planned and controlled from Afghanistan. The attack was planned in Afghanistan by kharji Zahid and the final approval was given by kharji Noorwali Mehsud. All the khwarij who attacked Cadet College Wana were Afghan citizens. The equipment for this attack was provided from Afghanistan, which included American-made weapons,” said the information ministry in a statement t...

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi revealed on Thursday that Afghan nationals were involved in the recent suicide bombing in Islamabad and the terrorist attack on Wana Cadet College.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) peace jirga, comprising stakeholders from the province, on Wednesday unanimously demanded that the federal government prioritise negotiations with Afghanistan and consult the KP government over Afghan policy. The jirga, organised by the KP government, demanded a provincial action plan, reopening of all trade routes with Afghanistan, and also reducing tensions between the KP and federal governments. The peace jirga had been called by the KP government to discuss the law and order situation in KP and discuss strategies for re-establishing peace in the province. At the previous jirga held in the Khyber district on October 25, CM Afridi had warned against launching any new military operation in the tribal districts. Today’s gathering, chaired by KP Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati, was attended by former governors, chief ministers, tribal elders, lawmakers, representatives of all the political parties in KP — both from the provincial and National Assembly — legal experts, business c...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Tuesday that Kabul must understand that lasting peace could only be achieved by reining in terrorist groups operating from Afghan soil. “Afghanistan must understand that lasting peace can only be realised by reining in Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan and other terrorist groups operating from Afghan territory,” Shehbaz said while addressing the Inter-Parliamentary Speakers’ Conference in Islamabad. In his remarks, the premier said that the theme of the conference, “Peace, Security and Development”, could not be more timely and relevant. He added that the theme was particularly resonant for Pakistan, saying that the country had always advocated for peace through dialogue and diplomacy. “We firmly believe that peace and security form the foundation of sustainable national and regional development,” he said. “The true value of peace is most profoundly understood when we are confronted with the conflicts that continue to plague our world,” he said. The premier especially called att...

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Peshawar Zone has thwarted an attempt to fraudulently obtain Pakistani citizenship, arresting an Afghan national and three accomplices involved in the forgery.

ISLAMABAD: The number of Afghan nationals arrested and detained in Pakistan surged by 146 per cent in a single week, a spike linked to the reopening of border crossings, according to a joint report by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). A total of 7,764 Afghan nationals were arrested and detained in the week ending Nov 1, a significant increase from the previous week, the report said. Of those arrested between Oct 26 and Nov 1, Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) holders and undocumented Afghans accounted for 77pc, while Proof of Registration (PoR) card holders represented the remaining 23 pc, it added. The report noted that 86pc of the arrests and detentions occurred in Balochistan. Across the country, the top three districts for arrests and detentions between Jan 1 and Nov 1, 2025, were Chagi, Attock and Quetta. Links the surge to reopening of border crossings; reveals Balochistan is epicentre of the crackdown The rate of returns and deportations also rose sharply in ...

Pakistan on Thursday “strongly rejected” claims made by Afghanistan that Islamabad instigated a border clash in the Chaman area, stating that firing started from the Afghan side and that the situation is under control. This development comes as Islamabad and Kabul are having talks in Istanbul to expand a ceasefire called after five days of border clashes last month. In a post on X, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting strongly rejected the allegations coming from Kabul. “Firing was initiated from the Afghan side, to which our security forces responded immediately in a measured and responsible manner,” the ministry wrote. It added that the situation was brought under control thanks to the “responsible action by Pakistani forces” and emphasised that the ceasefire remains intact. “Pakistan remains committed to ongoing dialogue and expects reciprocity from Afghan authorities,” the post concluded. Afghan Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid levelled allegations that Pakistani forces opened fire in the S...

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Sunday said that with the establishment of a joint monitoring and verification mechanism, the onus would be on Kabul to take action against terrorists using Afghan soil. A second round of discussions between Pakistani and Afghan Taliban delegations had began in Istanbul on October 25, following days of border hostilities, but Islamabad’s long-standing concern over terror attacks emanating from Kabul remained a major point of contention, resulting in a stalemate. A breakthrough came after Turkiye and Qatar salvaged the dialogue process for the second time in less than a week, following Pakistan’s announcement on Oct 29 that the talks had “failed” and that its negotiators were preparing to return home. The talks produced a three-point understanding — the continuation of the ceasefire, the establishment of a monitoring and verification mechanism to ensure peace, and penalties for violations. The operational details of that mechanism are expected to be finalised when the “p...

The Torkham border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan was reopened on Friday after 20 days, but only to facilitate the deportation of undocumented Afghan residents from Pakistan, officials confirmed.

The Supreme Court on Thursday suspended a Peshawar High Court (PHC) ruling that had granted Pakistani citizenship to an Afghan man on the basis of his marriage to a Pakistani woman.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Tuesday said that an agreement was about to be reached with Afghanistan, but Afghan negotiators backpedaled after contacting Kabul during the negotiations. A second round of talks between the two sides had begun on Saturday in Istanbul. The Qatar talks had come after days of fighting along the Pak-Afghan border and strikes by Islamabad on Gul Bahadur group camps in Afghanistan. The agreement reached in Doha extended an initial 48-hour truce and resulted in a temporary ceasefire, as well as a commitment to reconvene in Istanbul to work on mechanisms for lasting peace and stability between the two countries. Speaking on Geo News programme ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada ke Saath’, the defence minister stated that negotiators had backpedaled on an agreement “four or five times” after receiving instructions from Kabul. “Whenever we got close to an agreement — either in the last four days or last week — when negotiators reported to Kabul, then there was intervention and the agreement was wit...

Foreign Office Spokesperson Tahir Hussain Andrabi on Friday said that transit trade with Afghanistan would remain suspended for the foreseeable future till the current security situation was evaluated. Questioned about the status of trade with Afghanistan during his maiden weekly press briefing, Andrabi said: “Afghan transit trade is closed, is not taking place. It is not taking place because of the factors that you were aware of. There was considerable discussion on this question during last week’s briefing as well. Till the evaluation of the security situation, this transit trade will remain closed.” He said there had been continuous attacks on trading points at the border from the Afghan side that killed Pakistanis, adding that the lives of citizens were “more important than any commodity trade”. Andrabi added that Afghan soil should not be used for fomenting and sponsoring terrorism in Pakistan. Questioned about reports of the Taliban supreme leader ordering the construction of a dam on the Kunar river, t...

Islamabad police on Monday arrested 17 Afghan nationals residing illegally in the federal capital during an operation conducted in the Bari Imam area.