Pakistan’s defense minister says trusting Taliban assurances is ‘dangerous’

Pakistan’s defense minister, Khawaja Asif, said that relying on assurances from the Taliban would be “dangerous,” citing what he described as repeated contradictions between their statements and their actions.

In an interview with Pakistan’s Geo News, Asif said Taliban officials had made commitments to address security concerns but had been unwilling to formalize those pledges in writing.

“Trusting them is very dangerous,” Asif said. “The behavior of the Afghan government does not match the statements it makes.”

Asif said Taliban officials had previously denied the presence of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Afghanistan, while more recent indications suggested acknowledgment that members of the group were operating there.

“Every time we have talked with them, they have said they would stop these people, take action against them and prevent such incidents from happening in the future,” he said. “But they are not willing to put these commitments in writing.”

He described the Taliban’s refusal to sign written commitments as a key reason for Islamabad’s doubts about their intentions.

Asif said he had personally raised the issue during discussions in Qatar, proposing that any commitments be documented in the presence of Qatari and Turkish representatives.

“Their response was: ‘No, we cannot do that,’” he said.

The remarks come amid continued tensions between Pakistan and the Taliban over militant violence and cross-border security.

Pakistani officials have repeatedly accused the Taliban of failing to prevent the TTP from using Afghanistan’s territory to plan and launch attacks inside Pakistan. Taliban have rejected those allegations and insist that no group is permitted to use Afghan soil to threaten other countries.

However, a United Nations monitoring team has reported that the TTP maintains an estimated 6,000 fighters in Afghanistan.

Pakistani media recently reported that Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada had warned the TTP to halt attacks inside Pakistan, though Taliban have not publicly commented on those reports.

Security has remained a major source of friction between Islamabad and Taliban, with both sides trading accusations over responsibility for cross-border violence and militant activity.