Police officers examine damaged vehicles after a suicide blast outside the Islamabad District Court on November 11, 2025. Photo: AFP
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan is considering its options after investigations revealed that the suicide bombers behind the latest attacks in Islamabad and Wana were Afghan nationals. This development is sure to further strain the already strained relationship between Pakistan and the Taliban regime.
According to officials, preliminary investigations by security agencies confirmed that the suicide bomber who blew himself up outside the Islamabad judicial complex and the terrorists involved in the attack on the Cadet College in Wana, South Waziristan, were Afghan nationals. Both incidents, which occurred within days of each other, killed several people.
The results have heightened Islamabad’s concerns that Afghanistan continues to serve as a haven for terrorists linked to the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), despite repeated assurances from the Taliban government that Afghan soil would not be used against any country.
Sources familiar with the matter told The Express Pakinomist that Pakistan will share “conclusive evidence” of Afghan involvement in the latest wave of attacks with brokers including Turkiye and Qatar. Both countries have made efforts to find a workable solution between Islamabad and Kabul.
The sources also said Pakistan planned to share the evidence with the Taliban regime as well.
The latest revelations come amid a delicate phase in Pakistan-Afghanistan relations. Despite several rounds of talks brokered by regional partners, Islamabad’s patience is wearing thin over Kabul’s reluctance or inability to act against the TTP.
The issue was a central theme during the recent meetings in Doha and Istanbul. The third round in Istanbul collapsed without progress, with both sides blaming the other. However, the fragile ceasefire remained intact. Nevertheless, the twin attacks are likely to end the ceasefire as Pakistan has already made it clear that the ceasefire was not open-ended.
While the Taliban side offered verbal assurances, they stopped short of offering concrete commitments, insisting that the TTP issue was an “internal matter of Pakistan.”
However, Islamabad rejected this argument, reminding the Taliban that most TTP leaders and terrorists are based across the border under the protection of the Afghan regime.
Following the Doha engagement, Turkey hosted a follow-up round in Istanbul on 6 November that brought together Pakistani officials and Taliban representatives under Turkish mediation. Pakistan reiterated its demand for the expulsion or neutralization of TTP militants, while the Afghan side again urged Islamabad to engage the group politically.
The suicide attacks in Islamabad and Wana took place just days after the Istanbul talks and are now seen by Pakistani officials as a direct challenge to their warnings. The discovery that both bombers were Afghan nationals has, as one security official put it, “crossed a red line.”
A senior official said Islamabad was now “reviewing all options” to respond.
“There is a realization that the policy of restraint has not yielded results,” the official added. “Pakistan will act in its own security interests if the Taliban continue to ignore our concerns.”
At the same time, Pakistan is coordinating with friendly nations like Turkey, Qatar and China on the evolving situation.
Pakistan, already facing internal security challenges and political uncertainty, could be drawn into a protracted standoff with Kabul if diplomacy fails.
For now, Islamabad’s message to Kabul is clear: the era of quiet tolerance is over. If the Taliban regime cannot rein in groups attacking Pakistan from Afghan soil, Islamabad can no longer rely solely on negotiations to protect its interests.
Earlier, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said Thursday that Afghan nationals carried out two suicide bombings in Pakistan this week.
Both bombers involved in the attacks have been identified as Afghans, he told parliament in a live-televised session. “This is our big, serious concern,” Naqvi said, adding that Pakistani authorities had repeatedly raised the issue of security with the Afghan Taliban administration in Kabul. He blamed the Afghan Taliban regime for supporting terrorists who attack Pakistani forces.
There was no immediate response from Kabul.
Also, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MoIB) on Thursday published a sensational report showing direct involvement of Afghanistan in the Cadet College Wana attack.
“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 nationals,” the MoIB said in a follow-up report on the attack posted on X earlier Twitter along with evidence.
“The equipment for this attack was supplied from Afghanistan, which included American-made weapons,” the report added.
“On the orders of Kharji Noor Wali Mehsud, responsibility for the attack was accepted by ‘Jaish-ul-Hind’. Kharji Noor Wali wanted to shift the responsibility from Fitna-ul-Kharij (TTP), which is why the Afghan terrorist kept mentioning Jaish-ul-Hind in the video made during the attack,” the report noted.
It further said that Afghan Taliban pressured Fitna al-Khawarij not to claim responsibility for attacks as it leads them to pressure from Pakistan and friendly countries.
“The attack on Cadet College Wana was aimed at increasing security in Pakistan at the behest of the Indian agency RAW,” the report stressed.
It said the identity of the Afghan terrorists killed in the attack firmly established the links between terrorists in their bases in Afghanistan.
