The adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2818 on March 16, 2026 should have served as a moment of global clarity. Instead, it risks becoming yet another document filed away in the long history of warnings ignored. Nearly three decades after United Nations Security Council Resolution 1267 formally condemned the Taliban regime for providing safe havens to terrorist organisations such as Al-Qaeda, the international community finds itself confronting the same grim reality: Afghanistan remains a sanctuary for transnational militancy.

The language may have evolved, the actors may have multiplied — now including ISIL-K, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, East Turkestan Islamic Movement, and Balochistan Liberation Army — but the core concern has remained stubbornly unchanged. Afghan soil continues to offer operational space to groups that do not recognise borders and do not confine their ambitions to a single region.

In this context, Pakistan's recent military strikes across the Afghan border must be understood not as acts of aggression, but as acts of necessity, perhaps even restraint. For years, Islamabad has exercised strategic patience, raising concerns through diplomatic channels, engaging with Kabul and seeking international support to curb cross-border terrorism. Yet, persistent attacks emanating from Afghan territory has left Pakistan with diminishing options.

This is not merely Pakistan's problem. It is a........

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