'ISIS camps still active in Pakistan': Former US diplomat warns of 'very bad' fallout for Islamabad
Khalilzad warned that Islamabad must urgently address the presence of ISIS and other terrorist groups, noting that it poses a serious threat not only to Pakistan itself but to the broader region
- Apr 27, 2025,
- Updated Apr 27, 2025 9:00 AM IST
Former US Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad on Saturday raised serious concerns over Pakistan's ongoing links to terror groups, warning that "playing with terrorism for tactical purposes is a disastrous ploy that inevitably backfires very, very badly."
Taking to X, Khalilzad wrote, "Pakistan's Defense Minister has characterized his country's past support for terrorist and extremist groups as having been a mistake. So, is Pakistan no longer harboring terrorist and extremist groups?"
Sadly, he said, there were credible reports pointing to the existence of significant and dangerous terror groups in Pakistan. "For example, ISIS (Islamic State of Khorasan Province ISKP) maintains terrorist camps in the country. There are reports that in mid-March, Baluch nationalist fighters attacked an ISIS training camp in the mountains of the Mastung district close to Bolan River in Baluchistan. Allegedly, some 30 ISIS fighters, including citizens of Turkiye, India, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, were killed, and the camp was destroyed."
"If these reports are correct, their existence could not have been unknown to the Pakistani military intelligence, not if Pakistan is serious about stamping out terrorism on their soil," he said.
Khalilzad warned that Islamabad must urgently address the presence of ISIS and other terrorist groups, noting that it poses a serious threat not only to Pakistan itself but to the broader region and international community. "By now, everyone should have learned that playing with terrorism for tactical purposes is a disastrous ploy that inevitably backfires very, very badly," he stressed.
Khalilzad's statement comes in the backdrop of Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif admitting his country's history of supporting, training, and funding terrorist organisations as "dirty work" done for the West, which he now calls a mistake.
In an interview with Sky News, presenter Yalda Hakim asked Asif, "You do admit, sir, that Pakistan has had a long history of backing and supporting and training and funding these terrorist organisations?"
Asif replied, "Well, we have been doing this dirty work for the United States for about three decades, you know, and the West, including Britain. That was a mistake, and we suffered from that."
Pressed on Pakistan being blamed for the terror attack in Pahalgam — for which The Resistance Front, an offshoot of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba, claimed responsibility — Asif insisted, "Lashkar-e-Taiba doesn’t exist in Pakistan anymore. It is extinct. It is extinct… if the parent organisation does not exist, how can the offshoot take birth here?"
Former US Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad on Saturday raised serious concerns over Pakistan's ongoing links to terror groups, warning that "playing with terrorism for tactical purposes is a disastrous ploy that inevitably backfires very, very badly."
Taking to X, Khalilzad wrote, "Pakistan's Defense Minister has characterized his country's past support for terrorist and extremist groups as having been a mistake. So, is Pakistan no longer harboring terrorist and extremist groups?"
Sadly, he said, there were credible reports pointing to the existence of significant and dangerous terror groups in Pakistan. "For example, ISIS (Islamic State of Khorasan Province ISKP) maintains terrorist camps in the country. There are reports that in mid-March, Baluch nationalist fighters attacked an ISIS training camp in the mountains of the Mastung district close to Bolan River in Baluchistan. Allegedly, some 30 ISIS fighters, including citizens of Turkiye, India, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, were killed, and the camp was destroyed."
"If these reports are correct, their existence could not have been unknown to the Pakistani military intelligence, not if Pakistan is serious about stamping out terrorism on their soil," he said.
Khalilzad warned that Islamabad must urgently address the presence of ISIS and other terrorist groups, noting that it poses a serious threat not only to Pakistan itself but to the broader region and international community. "By now, everyone should have learned that playing with terrorism for tactical purposes is a disastrous ploy that inevitably backfires very, very badly," he stressed.
Khalilzad's statement comes in the backdrop of Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif admitting his country's history of supporting, training, and funding terrorist organisations as "dirty work" done for the West, which he now calls a mistake.
In an interview with Sky News, presenter Yalda Hakim asked Asif, "You do admit, sir, that Pakistan has had a long history of backing and supporting and training and funding these terrorist organisations?"
Asif replied, "Well, we have been doing this dirty work for the United States for about three decades, you know, and the West, including Britain. That was a mistake, and we suffered from that."
Pressed on Pakistan being blamed for the terror attack in Pahalgam — for which The Resistance Front, an offshoot of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba, claimed responsibility — Asif insisted, "Lashkar-e-Taiba doesn’t exist in Pakistan anymore. It is extinct. It is extinct… if the parent organisation does not exist, how can the offshoot take birth here?"