Peshawar, March 2, 2025: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has urged the federal government to approve the Terms of Reference (ToRs) for talks with Afghanistan on rising militancy, following a recent suicide blast in the province that killed a top cleric and four worshippers.
In February, the KP government announced plans to send two delegations—comprising tribal elders, religious scholars, and political leaders—to Kabul to hold direct discussions with the Afghan Taliban administration on security concerns in the region. The move came after KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur linked the province’s security situation to developments in neighboring Afghanistan during a consultative meeting with various religious and political parties.
However, the federal government has yet to approve the ToRs for these discussions. Last month, Pakistan’s Foreign Office stated it had not been formally informed about KP’s decision, emphasizing that managing foreign relations falls under federal jurisdiction.
Following Friday’s deadly suicide attack at a pro-Taliban seminary in northwestern Pakistan, KP government spokesperson Muhammad Ali Saif reiterated the urgent need for federal approval to move forward with the initiative.
“The federation should approve the ToRs of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government for talks with Afghanistan as soon as possible,” Saif said, stressing that the delegation must visit Kabul on an emergency basis.
He also urged the central government to avoid politicizing the issue, asserting that ensuring the safety of KP residents is the provincial government’s primary responsibility.
Pakistan has struggled to contain a resurgence in militant violence, particularly in KP, since the breakdown of a fragile truce between the government and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in November 2022.
Militant groups have carried out attacks on security forces, targeted killings, and kidnappings of law enforcement officers and government officials in recent months. Islamabad’s top military and political leadership has accused TTP militants of launching cross-border attacks from Afghanistan, blaming the Afghan Taliban for harboring and facilitating them—an allegation that Kabul denies, calling Pakistan’s security situation an internal matter.
The ToRs propose that KP’s delegation engage with Afghan counterparts on issues of peace, security, cross-border trade, and economic cooperation through a “tribal diplomacy” approach.
The delegation aims to strengthen tribal diplomacy and confidence-building measures between tribal communities and authorities in both countries, facilitate dialogue on regional peace and security, reduce cross-border militancy by engaging tribal elders to dissuade terrorist groups from using Afghan territory for attacks in Pakistan and seek Afghan cooperation in monitoring and preventing TTP and other militant groups’ movements across the border.
