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Pakistan won’t support any attempt by Taliban to recapture power: ISPR general
Pakistan’s Director General of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Babar Iftikhar said Wednesday that Pakistan has done what it can to promote peace efforts in Afghanistan and that Islamabad will not support the Taliban in any attempt to “recapture Kabul”.
Speaking to journalists on Wednesday, Iftikhar said: “Even Afghan leaders are admitting that Pakistan has done utmost for peace in Afghanistan.”
Pakistan’s The News International quoted him as saying that it is for the citizens and the government of Afghanistan to determine the future of their country, and how the negotiating process would progress.
“We only aim for a long-lasting peace in Afghanistan,” he said.
On a question on NATO forces’ likely drawdown and a possible return of the Taliban, he said: “Afghanistan now is not what it was in ’90s and the state infrastructure cannot be trounced easily, and Pakistan also has changed.
“It’s impossible for the Taliban to recapture Kabul and that Pakistan would support them. It isn’t going to happen,” he said.
The News reported that he maintained the policy of the Pakistan government to extend a hand of peace to the neighbours was very clear.
This comes just days after Russia’s special envoy for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov visited Islamabad to encourage Pakistan’s support for a meeting in Moscow to help facilitate the stalled Afghan peace process.
Kabulov told Russian news agency Sputnik that his “leadership has set the task of finding ways that will facilitate the start of inter-Afghan negotiations through consultations within the framework of the enlarged troika. We agreed on such a meeting with the American special envoy [Zalmay] Khalilzad. It can happen in Moscow.”
The “enlarged troika” was in reference to what Kabulov said was a group that evolved over the last two years, including countries with the most influence on the Afghan peace processes – the United States, China, Iran, Pakistan and Russia.
VOA reported that the Moscow format was a Russian initiative to organize regional stakeholders involved in the Afghan peace process. Its second meeting in 2018 brought the Taliban to an international forum for the first time. The U.S. sent representatives to observe.
Mahmood Khan Achakzai, a member of Pakistan’s National Assembly and head of the Pakhtunkhwa Awami National Party, has said that if capable statesmen had been in power, people living on both sides of the Durand Line could have moved freely across the line.
Speaking during a podcast interview, Achakzai said that countries with histories of major conflict, including Russia, Germany and the United Kingdom, now maintain far more open borders despite past wars. He said that in many such regions, only a “paper line” remains, with limited border restrictions.
Drawing comparisons with the disputed Durand Line boundary between Afghanistan and Pakistan, Achakzai argued that a similar arrangement could have been possible in South Asia.
“What is the problem here? A Punjabi could dance in Kandahar and a Pashtun could come here. Even if we are not formally one country, we could have effectively functioned like one,” he said.
The Pakistani politician also referred to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the later U.S.-led intervention, saying Afghanistan has the right to seek war reparations from those countries to support reconstruction efforts.
Achakzai further criticised the treatment of Pashtuns in Pakistan, alleging that individuals in cities including Lahore and Karachi have faced detention and deportation.
Kyrgyzstan has completed major construction work on its territory under the regional energy project CASA-1000, according to a recent report by the Eurasian Stabilization and Development Fund (ESDF). With key infrastructure now in place, further progress on the project depends on the completion of construction in Afghanistan, which is expected by the end of 2027.
The report notes that Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Pakistan have largely finalized their respective infrastructure components and are now awaiting the completion of the Afghan section before moving forward with full operational stages.
The CASA-1000 project, valued at approximately $1.2 billion, aims to establish a high-voltage electricity transmission line linking Central and South Asia. The initiative is designed to enable Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to export surplus hydropower during summer months, when electricity demand rises in Pakistan and Afghanistan due to increased use of cooling systems.
Construction work in Afghanistan was suspended in August 2021, at a stage when only about 18 percent of transmission structures had been installed, although more than 90 percent of equipment had already been delivered to the country. Following extended negotiations and security assurances, work on the Afghan section resumed in December 2024.
ESDF experts say that once construction in Afghanistan is completed, participating countries will be able to begin technical testing of the high-voltage direct current (HVDC) system. A full launch of the regional energy corridor is expected by the end of 2027, marking a significant milestone in regional energy integration between Central and South Asia.
Afghan scholars have described the “martyrdom” of Maulana Muhammad Idris, a prominent Pakistani religious scholar, as a major loss and have extended their condolences over his death to all scholars worldwide, particularly to the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Pakistan.
In a condolence message, Afghan scholars stated: “Killing scholars is a grave injustice that brings the wrath and anger of Almighty Allah and is considered an unforgivable crime. We, the scholars of Afghanistan, strongly condemn such actions.”
They also urged the government of Pakistan to take serious measures to prevent the targeting of religious scholars.
Maulana Muhammad Idris was killed on Tuesday in an armed attack in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
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