Reporting snapshot · 20 September 2026. Pakistan's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Saturday formally demanded that the Afghan Taliban dismantle militant networks and take "credible, verifiable and sustained measures" against groups it says operate from Afghan soil, after the 18 September attack on Kohat's Old Police Lines. The demand is the official position of the Pakistani state as set out in the ministry's statement; the identities and affiliations of all the attackers, and the reliability of a militant group's claim of responsibility, had not been independently verified when this article was published.
What happened
Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Saturday formally called on the Afghan Taliban to dismantle militant sanctuaries, recruitment and training networks on Afghan soil, saying the 18 September attack on Kohat’s Old Police Lines was perpetrated by “the vilest of ‘Khwarij’ with roots in Afghanistan”. In a statement carried in full by the state news agency APP and Geo News, the ministry said the presence of alleged terrorist sanctuaries alongside recruitment and support infrastructure in Afghanistan “poses a direct threat to Pakistan’s security”, and demanded that Kabul take “concrete and verifiable measures against militant networks operating from Afghan territory”.
The statement said Pakistan had repeatedly raised concerns over the use of Afghan territory by groups it designates as Fitna al-Khawarij — officialdom’s term for the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and affiliates — to plan and carry out attacks inside Pakistan. “They must dismantle these networks rather than deflect responsibility,” the ministry said.
Islamabad also rebuked Afghan Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid for threatening Pakistan with a “crushing response”, calling it “reprehensible” that he issued such a threat while his regime, in Pakistan’s account, “actively sponsors terrorism in Pakistan”. Kabul, the ministry said, could not evade its counterterrorism obligations under the 2020 Doha Agreement.
The demand came as the death toll from the attack was being finalised after an overnight clearance operation. A first information report registered by the Counter-Terrorism Department described how militants used an explosives-laden vehicle, gunfire and grenades in an assault that left at least 22 people dead — including 16 police officers and six civilians — and more than 100 injured, according to Geo News. Eight attackers were killed as police and Elite Force commandos cleared the compound, with the Pakistan Army, security sources said, killing the last two bombers.
The demand to Kabul
The ministry’s statement is the strongest official formulation of Pakistan’s position since the attack, moving from condemnation to a specific list of required actions: that the Afghan Taliban adopt “credible, verifiable and sustained measures to dismantle alleged terrorist sanctuaries, disrupt radical recruitment and training networks, and prevent terrorist groups from planning, facilitating or launching attacks against Pakistan”.
It also answered the Afghan Foreign Ministry’s condemnation, saying Pakistan had taken note of the statement and of Kabul’s sympathy for the victims’ families “while noting that the statement did not explicitly refer to terrorism”. “Condemnation must be matched by concrete action,” the ministry said.
The statement closed with a warning familiar from past Pakistani messaging toward Kabul: that Pakistan “has both the will and capability to eliminate terrorist threats wherever they are” and would act “in accordance with international law” to protect its citizens and sovereignty. It urged the international community to press the Afghan Taliban “before the threat spreads further across the region and beyond”.
What Kabul says
The Afghan Taliban has rejected the substance of Pakistan’s allegations. Mujahid said Afghanistan wants to continue dialogue and cooperation with Pakistan and welcomed Saudi and other mediation efforts, according to Geo News, while Islamabad said condemnation and pledges of dialogue had not been matched by verifiable action.
The positions are long-established and mutually exclusive. Islamabad maintains that the Afghan Taliban regime has failed to act against groups that use Afghan territory to recruit, train and launch attacks against Pakistan, and that the Kohat assault — claimed by the Hafiz Gul Bahadur-led Ittehadul Mujahideen Pakistan, an alliance of factions that emerged from the Pakistani Taliban movement — is another instance of that pattern. Kabul denies harbouring or supporting the groups and says attacks inside Pakistan are a domestic problem. The accusations have, at times, escalated into armed clashes and Pakistani airstrikes it says target sanctuaries across the border.
The military’s public relations wing has amplified the same theme. ISPR Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry told Al Arabiya that Pakistan wanted an end to terrorism and interference from Afghanistan, saying the Afghan Taliban regime was allowing its territory to be used for the recruitment, training, arming and launching of attacks against Pakistan, and citing a United Nations report that dozens of terrorist groups were operating from Afghanistan. “Afghanistan should not become the terrorist centre of the world,” he said, adding that Pakistan reserved its right to self-defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter.
Why it matters
The demand sets out, in the state’s own words, what Islamabad expects from Kabul after one of the deadliest attacks on police in recent years, and what it may do if that expectation is not met. The “will and capability” language and the Article 51 reference are the formula Pakistani officials have used before previous escalations, including the military operations against militant infrastructure in Afghanistan and the border clashes after the collapse of the October 2025 ceasefire.
Domestically, the statement reinforces the government’s framing of the fight against Fitna al-Khawarij as a cross-border problem and keeps diplomatic pressure on Kabul in parallel with the military’s counter-terrorism campaign under Operation Radd-ul-Fitna 3. The Kohat attack, which killed at least 21 people including 15 police officers on 18 September, has become a focal point of that campaign.
What is still uncertain
Several questions remain open. The identities of all the attackers have not been publicly confirmed; security sources told Pakistani media that one of the two suicide bombers was identified as an Afghan national, but the claim has not been officially confirmed. The ministry’s framing that the attack had “roots in Afghanistan” is the official position, not an independently established fact.
The casualty figures have also varied as hospitals updated their counts — from initial reports of 16 killed to 21, then 22, with higher totals in some international wire accounts that count the attackers among the dead. The final verified toll remains to be established.
The deeper question is what the Afghan Taliban does next. Past Pakistani demands have produced condemnations and pledges of dialogue but, in Islamabad’s view, little verifiable action, and previous escalations have at times ended in direct military exchange. Whether this statement is followed by further demands or a military response depends on Kabul’s reaction and the investigation.
What happens next
In the near term, the official positions are set: Islamabad has formally demanded verifiable action, and Kabul has said it wants continued dialogue. The practical test is whether the international community takes up Pakistan’s call, and whether any Pakistani military response follows if Kabul’s reaction is judged inadequate. On the security front, the counter-terrorism campaign continues at high tempo, and attacks on police and security forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa show no sign of abating. This is a dated snapshot as of 20 September 2026; both the toll and the diplomatic and military responses may be revised as more information becomes available.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a synthesis of published material, not eyewitness reporting. Sources were reviewed on 20 September 2026. The ministry's statement is quoted from the official text carried by APP and Geo News.
- APP — Information Ministry Condemns Terrorist Attack in Kohat19 September 2026 · Official text of the ministry statement demanding Kabul take concrete and verifiable measures.
- Geo News — Kohat attack: Pakistan rebukes Taliban regime over failure to act against terror groups19 September 2026 · Independent report of the ministry statement, the rebuke of Mujahid's "crushing response" threat and the Doha Agreement reference.
- Geo News — Kohat mosque attack: FIR details militants' gunfire assault inside Police Lines after blast20 September 2026 · Independent account of the FIR, the casualties, the "roots in Afghanistan" framing and the clearance operation.
- Geo News — Taliban regime wants continued dialogue, cooperation with Pakistan, says spokesperson19 September 2026 · Independent report of Mujahid's response and the ISPR DG's remarks to Al Arabiya, including the Article 51 warning.
- Dawn — 21 lives lost as terrorists target mosque in Kohat police lines19 September 2026 · Independent report of the attack, the casualties and the Ittehadul Mujahideen claim.
- The Express Tribune — Mosque blown up as terrorists storm Kohat police facility19 September 2026 · Independent report of the incident report figures and the police account.
- AFP — Death toll from attack at police HQ in Pakistan rises to 3119 September 2026 · Independent wire account of the toll, the assault and the cross-border context.
