Speaking in Islamabad on Wednesday, Dar recalled the 2021 visit of then-ISI chief Lieutenant General Faiz Hamid to Kabul, shortly after the Taliban seized power. “When General Faiz went there, he said over tea that everything would be fine. That one cup of tea has cost Pakistan dearly,” Dar remarked, adding that thousands of militants returned across reopened borders.
According to Dar, the Imran Khan government released several extremists after the Taliban takeover, including those responsible for killings in Swat and attacks on Pakistani forces. “The terrorists freed at that time are now masterminding bombings in Balochistan,” he said, calling it a costly lesson in misplaced diplomacy.
The Taliban captured Kabul in August 2021 after the U.S. withdrawal, a move that Islamabad had publicly celebrated as “breaking the chains of slavery.” However, relations between the two countries have since soured, with frequent border clashes and airstrikes. Just last month, Pakistan carried out bombings in Kabul, prompting retaliation from the Taliban before a temporary ceasefire was brokered by Turkey and Qatar.
Tensions are rooted in the long-standing Durand Line dispute and mutual accusations of harboring terrorists. According to the Global Terrorism Index 2025, Pakistan now ranks as the world’s second most terrorism-affected nation after Burkina Faso. Attacks by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have risen by 90% in a year, while violence by the Baloch Liberation Army has increased by 60%.
Dar’s comments mark one of the strongest acknowledgments yet by Islamabad of the blowback from its historical support for the Taliban.
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