Foreign Office (FO) Spokesperson Tahir Hussain Andrabi asserted on Friday that Pakistan had never eschewed dialogue with any government in Kabul but would not hold talks with any terrorist groups.
“Pakistan has never eschewed dialogue with any government in Kabul. However, Pakistan will not hold dialogue with any terrorist groups, be it Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) or Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA),” he said while addressing his weekly press briefing.
“The third round of talks with the Afghan Taliban regime concluded on November 7 in Istanbul,” he said, expressing appreciation for the “sincere efforts” of mediating countries Qatar and Turkiye.
“Since the Taliban regime came to power in Afghanistan, there has been a sharp surge in terrorist attacks emanating from Afghan soil on Pakistan. Throughout these years, Pakistan – despite suffering military and civilian casualties – exercised maximum restraint and did not escalate,” he said.
He added that Pakistan expected that with the passage of time, the Taliban regime would be able to control these attacks and take concrete actions against the banned TTP.
He said that during this time, Pakistan also tried to positively engage with the Afghan Taliban regime, offering bilateral trade concessions and humanitarian assistance.
“However, despite all these positive gestures by Pakistan, the response from the Taliban regimes has only been hollow promises and inaction,” he regretted.
He said that the TTP and the BLA were declared enemies of Pakistan.
“Anyone harbouring, abetting or financing them is not considered a friend and a well-wisher of Pakistan and its people,” he said.
“Pakistan is determined to take every possible action to safeguard its security and the security of its people. We regret that the Taliban regime is constantly trying to misrepresent the issue of terrorists hiding in Afghanistan as a humanitarian issue.
“Taliban regime is also trying to portray TTP and BLA as refugees in Afghanistan. This is not a humanitarian or a refugee crisis but a ploy to frame terrorists as refugees,” he said.
The FO spokesperson also stated that some elements in the Afghan Taliban did not want confrontation with Pakistan, but there was a “strong lobby” with monetary support from foreign actors that had been tasked to “stoke tension”.
Andrabi also said that some elements within the Afghan Taliban regime were “trying to instigate Pashtun nationalism in Pakistan.”
Moreover, the FO said it had “no information” about the prime minister’s coordinator on tourism, Sardar Yasir Ilyas, interacting with an Israeli ministry official in London.
The spokesperson was asked about the incident after a video of the interaction began circulating on social media. It was filmed during the World Travel Market event in London, which took place from November 4 to 6, 2025.
In the clip, Ilyas could be seen shaking hands with and conversing with an individual later identified as the Director General of Israel’s Ministry of Tourism, Michael Izhar-Kov.
A translation of Israeli journalist Rai Kais’ X post in Hebrew said: “As you may recall, Pakistan was recently mentioned as one of the countries that may join the international force in Gaza.”
However, London-based journalist Murtaza Ali Shah claimed in a post on X that “a group of individuals from Israel visited the Pakistan Pavilion unannounced and met the Pakistani delegation without introducing themselves.”
Asked during a weekly press briefing about the interaction, the FO spokesperson, Tahir Hussain Andrabi, said: “I have no information on this meeting. The gentleman you referred to is a public figure. I would request you to ask him about the meeting. I have no information on this.”