At a 16 October security conference in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that terrorist groups maintain camps on Afghan soil and use it as a launching pad against neighboring countries, an assessment that aligns with Pakistan’s long-standing claims.

Independent monitors, including a December 2025 UN report estimating 6,000 TTP fighters in Afghanistan and the 2026 Global Terrorism Index ranking the TTP third-deadliest, reinforce concerns that Kabul continues to reject language linking Afghanistan to terrorism.

The article argues that terrorism from Afghan territory should be treated as a collective SCO and Moscow Format problem, with economic integration conditioned on verifiable counterterrorism commitments rather than left as a bilateral issue with Pakistan.

When Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov addressed a security conference on Central Asia and Afghanistan in Moscow on 16 October, he said what Pakistani officials have argued for years. Terrorist groups, he told delegates, maintain camps and strongholds on Afghan soil and use that territory to threaten their neighbors. Coming from a diplomat who otherwise champions engagement with the Taliban, the assessment carries weight. For Pakistan, which has absorbed the heaviest losses, it vindicates a position that Kabul continues to reject.

Lavrov was unusually specific. He said that a significant presence of terrorist and........

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