Pakistan Envoy: ‘Foreign Forces’ Sought to Fuel Afghanistan-Pakistan Tensions

DID Press: Pakistan’s ambassador to Russia, Faisal Niaz Tirmizi, has claimed that “certain foreign forces” attempted to pit Pakistan and Afghanistan against each other through intelligence activities, financial backing and military guidance, while insisting that tensions between Islamabad and Kabul have now largely subsided.

In an interview with Russia’s TASS news agency, Tirmizi said external actors had allegedly tried to use Afghanistan as a platform to destabilize Pakistan. He claimed those efforts involved intelligence operations, financial support and military advice aimed at fueling unrest inside Pakistan.

“Pakistan is a country of 250 million people, with a standing army of nearly one million personnel and nuclear capabilities. Destabilizing such a country through terrorism is impossible,” the Pakistani envoy said.

Tirmizi added that recent diplomatic engagements, including the visit of Russian presidential envoy for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov to Kabul and his planned trip to Pakistan, had contributed to easing tensions between the two neighboring countries.

The envoy stressed that Islamabad had never sought military confrontation with Afghanistan despite security concerns along the shared border.

“We never wanted to attack Afghanistan, a country with which we share around 2,640 kilometers of border,” he said, emphasizing the deep ethnic and historical ties between the populations on both sides of the frontier.

Tirmizi noted that Pashtuns remain the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan, while millions of Pashtuns also live in Pakistan, forming the country’s second-largest ethnic community.

He further argued that the conflict between the two sides had “effectively ended” and expressed hope that future relations would focus on trade, connectivity and regional cooperation rather than security disputes.

The ambassador also linked regional stability to broader infrastructure projects, including the North-South Transport Corridor initiative promoted by Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to Tirmizi, a stable Afghanistan would allow the expansion of roads, railways and trade links connecting Russia, Central Asia, Pakistan and potentially India.

However, he again alleged that Afghanistan was acting under the influence of unspecified “foreign forces” opposed to regional stability involving Pakistan, China, Tajikistan and Russia.