Islamabad is particularly concerned about militant fighters from a separate Pakistani Taliban group crossing into Pakistan and carrying out lethal attacks. In the last two decades, jihadist violence has claimed the lives of thousands of Pakistanis.
In the last few days, a suicide bombing claimed by an Afghan offshoot of Islamic State outside Kabul airport killed more than 100 people, including 13 US troops, underscoring the security threat in Afghanistan.
A rocket attack on the airport followed, and two Pakistani soldiers were killed by militant gunfire from across the Afghan border on Sunday.
“The next two to three months are critical,” a senior Pakistani official said, adding that Islamabad feared a rise in militant attacks along the Afghan-Pakistan border, as the Taliban tried to fill a vacuum left by the collapse of Afghan forces and the Western-backed administration.
“We (the international community) have to assist the Taliban in reorganising their army in order for them to control their territory,” the source added, referring to the threat posed by resurgent rival militant groups including Islamic State.
Pakistan has been accused by US officials of supporting the Afghan Taliban, who fought a civil war in the mid-1990s before seizing power in 1996.
Islamabad, one of the few capitals to acknowledge the Taliban government after it was deposed in 2001, denies the accusation.
Pakistan’s government claims that its sway over the movement has waned, especially since the Taliban gained confidence after Washington announced a deadline for the withdrawal of all US and other foreign troops.
According to the official, Pakistan planned to send security and intelligence officials to Kabul, possibly including the head of the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, to assist the Taliban in reorganising the Afghan military.
Requests for comment on Afghan Taliban security relations with Pakistan were not immediately returned by an Afghan Taliban spokesperson.
Pakistan is hoping for Taliban cooperation
Despite the fact that recognition of a new Taliban government was not on the table right away, the official stated that the international community should not abandon Afghanistan.
“Whether we recognise the Taliban government or not, Afghanistan’s stability is critical.”
Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K), a loosely affiliated offshoot of Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, was actively looking to launch attacks and recruit new fighters, according to the official.
It would almost certainly grow from its current small numbers if left unchecked.
Two drone strikes targeting ISIS-K militants were recently launched by the US, one in Kabul and the other near Pakistan’s eastern border.
The strikes came after President Joe Biden promised that the US would hunt down the militants responsible for the recent suicide bombing.
The strikes were denounced by the Taliban as a “clear attack on Afghan territory.”
According to the official, Pakistan’s armed forces, which have both unmanned drones and conventional aircraft, will avoid intervening directly in Afghanistan if at all possible.
The Afghan Taliban have assured their neighbour that no one planning attacks on Pakistan or any other country will be able to use their territory.
However, Islamabad expects the Afghan Taliban to hand over or at least force militants planning attacks against Pakistan, according to the official.
