Policemen examine damaged vehicles after a suicide attack outside the Islamabad district court on November 11, 2025. Photo: AFP
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan is weighing its options after investigations revealed that the suicide bombers behind the recent attacks in Islamabad and Wana were Afghan nationals. This development will undoubtedly 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 Islamabad Judicial Complex and the terrorists involved in the attack on Cadet College in Wana, South Waziristan, were Afghan nationals. Both incidents, which occurred within days of each other, killed several people.
The findings have deepened Islamabad’s concerns that Afghanistan continues to serve as a sanctuary for terrorists linked to the banned 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 PAkGazette that Pakistan will share “conclusive evidence” of Afghan involvement in the latest wave of attacks with mediators including Turkiye and Qatar. Both countries have been making efforts to find a workable solution between Islamabad and Kabul.
Sources also said that Pakistan was planning to share the evidence with the Taliban regime as well.
The latest revelations come amid a delicate phase in relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Despite multiple rounds of talks mediated 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 topic during recent meetings in Doha and Istanbul. The third round in Istanbul failed without any progress and both sides blamed each other. However, the fragile ceasefire remained intact. However, the twin attacks will likely end the truce, as Pakistan already made it clear that the ceasefire was not indefinite.
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.”
Islamabad, however, rejected this argument and reminded the Taliban that most of the TTP leaders and terrorists are based across the border under the protection of the Afghan regime.
Following the Doha compromise, Türkiye organized a follow-up round in Istanbul on November 6, bringing together Pakistani officials and Taliban representatives under Turkish mediation. Pakistan reiterated its demand for expulsion or neutralization of TTP militants, while the Afghan side again urged Islamabad to engage politically with the group.
The suicide attacks in Islamabad and Wana occurred just days after the Istanbul talks and are now seen by Pakistani officials as a direct challenge to their warnings. The discovery that both attackers were Afghan nationals, as one security official said, “crossed a red line.”
A senior official said Islamabad is now “reviewing all options” to respond.
“We are all aware that the policy of moderation has not produced results,” the official added. “Pakistan will act in its own security interests if the Taliban continues to ignore our concerns.”
At the same time, Pakistan is coordinating with friendly nations like Türkiye, Qatar and China on the evolving situation.
Pakistan, already facing internal security challenges and political uncertainty, may be drawn into a protracted standoff with Kabul if diplomacy fails.
For now, Islamabad’s message to Kabul is clear: the era of silent tolerance is over. If the Taliban regime cannot stop groups attacking Pakistan from Afghan soil, Islamabad may no longer rely solely on talks to protect its interests.
Earlier, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said on Thursday that Afghan nationals carried out two suicide bombings in Pakistan this week.
The two attackers involved in the attacks have been identified as Afghans, he told Parliament in a session broadcast live on television. “It is our main and serious concern,” Naqvi said, adding that Pakistani authorities had time and again raised the security issue with the Afghan Taliban administration in Kabul. He blamed the Afghan Taliban regime for supporting terrorists attacking Pakistani forces.
There was no immediate response from Kabul.
Furthermore, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MoIB) on Thursday released a shocking report showing Afghanistan’s direct involvement 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 final approval was given by Kharji Noorwali Mehsud. All Khwarij who attacked Cadet College Wana were Afghan nationals,” the MoIB said in a follow-up report on the attack published on X, formerly Twitter, along with evidence.
“The equipment for this attack was provided from Afghanistan, which included US-made weapons,” the report added.
“On the orders of Kharji Noor Wali Mehsud, the responsibility for the attack was accepted by ‘Jaish-ul-Hind’. Kharji Noor Wali wanted to divert the responsibility from Fitna-ul-Kharij (TTP), which is why the Afghan terrorist kept mentioning Jaish-ul-Hind in the video recorded during the attack,” the report said.
He further said that the Afghan Taliban pressured Fitna al-Khawarij not to accept responsibility for the attacks as this leads them to put pressure on Pakistan and friendly countries.
“The attack on Cadet College Wana was aimed at raising security concerns in Pakistan, at the request of the Indian agency RAW,” the report underlines.
He said the identities of the Afghan terrorists killed in the attack firmly established the terrorists’ links to their bases in Afghanistan.
