The recent United Nations Security Council (UNSC) report has confirmed what Pakistan has long argued, the banned Fitnah Al Khawarij (FAK) continues to operate from Afghan soil with growing freedom and support, posing a grave threat to Pakistan’s security and, increasingly, to regional stability. The report by the UNSC’s Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team, released in February 2026, highlights not only the persistence of FAK’s sanctuary inside Afghanistan but also a growing concern among member states that the group’s expanding capabilities could evolve it into an extra–regional threat.
For years, Pakistan has pressed the international community to recognize that terrorists use the porous border zones as safe havens. Kabul’s de facto authorities have repeatedly denied this, claiming that no terrorist organizations operate from Afghan territory. But the United Nations’ latest assessment rejects this claim and states clearly that Afghanistan’s current rulers provide a “permissive environment” for several groups, notably FAK, to thrive.
At the heart of this problem is the fact that FAK now stands as one of the largest terrorist organizations operating in Afghanistan, with an estimated 6,000 fighters spread across several eastern and southeastern provinces such as Kunar, Nangarhar, Khost, Paktika, and Paktia. In recent years, the group not only established strongholds but also expanded training facilities and logistical networks that have enabled cross-border attacks into Pakistan.
As the UNSC report observes, the operations carried out by the FAK group have become increasingly complex and deadly. Last year, the group carried out over 3,500 terrorist attacks bearing its insignia, with over 2,100 of these carried out within the second half of the year alone. This is a sure indicator of the group’s capabilities and their relative freedom of operation in Afghanistan.
One of the most alarming trends highlighted in the report occurred on November 11, when a courthouse attack in Islamabad was perpetrated by a FAK splinter faction. This attack marked the first major assault in the capital of Pakistan in years, demonstrating the increasingly audacious and pervasive scope of the FAK.
The UNSC analysis paints a broader picture of terrorist symbiosis: FAK does not operate in isolation. Al–Qaeda continues to enjoy patronage under the Afghan de facto authorities and acts as a “service provider” to FAK, offering training and strategic advice. There are also active concerns about ISIL–Khorasan (ISIL–K), which, despite pressure, retains the capacity and intent to pursue its own external operations.
The notion of an “extra-regional threat” stems from fears that FAK could deepen cooperation with such transnational jihadist networks. Some UN member states have warned that this alignment could see the group extend its ambitions well beyond Pakistan’s borders, with potentially destabilizing implications for Central Asia, South Asia, and even beyond.
Pakistan’s concerns are not new but have now been validated by the world’s leading multilateral security body. Islamabad has repeatedly accused Afghanistan’s authorities of tacitly tolerating or actively assisting terrorists using Afghan territory to strike at Pakistani civilians and security personnel. In numerous UN forums, Pakistan’s representatives have warned that the sanctuary provided to these groups undermines regional peace and makes meaningful counterterrorism cooperation difficult.
The problem is compounded by the presence of advanced weapons systems in the hands of terrorists, many of which originate from the vast stockpiles left behind after the withdrawal of the United States-led coalition from Afghanistan in 2021. These caches have equipped groups like FAK with greater firepower and tactical reach.
From Islamabad’s perspective, the security challenges posed by FAK are not abstract. They translate into real human costs, deaths of civilians and servicemen, displacement of communities, economic disruption, and a persistent sense of insecurity along the western frontier. Likewise, the spillover effects threaten to erode confidence in Afghanistan’s ability or willingness to act against violent terrorists.
Critically, the UNSC report also underscores the international dimension of the threat. Member states are not merely concerned with Pakistan’s internal security. They are alarmed that Afghanistan’s current regime and security environment could provide fertile ground for extremist ideologies to coalesce into a network capable of planning attacks beyond South Asia. This is the core of the warning that FAK might evolve into an “extra-regional” threat.
The road ahead is a challenging one. Attempts to bring about effective action against these terrorist havens through diplomacy have failed thus far. At the same time, the regime of Afghanistan has played both deficit and inadequate intercessions in dealing with this situation, rather than dismantling the infrastructure of cross-border terrorism.
Therefore, for Pakistan, the findings of the UNSC will be the need for the international community to take sufficient steps instead of only rhetoric and come up with a united state of thought to tackle the issue of terrorism with the aim of putting pressure on all the state as well as non-state actors who are promoting terrorists.
The report put out by the UNSC is a grim reminder to all nations all that terrorism, if unchecked, does not stay confined to the space earmarked for it. In fact, it metastasizes and assumes new forms and locations, looking for gaps and weaknesses in governance and cooperation. The world cannot afford to turn a blind eye to terrorism.
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