Taliban condemns terror attack in Pahalgam, says it ‘weakens regional security efforts’

The Taliban-led government in Afghanistan condemned the terror attack on tourists in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, stating that such incidents disrupt efforts to maintain regional security and stability. In a statement, Taliban also expressed condolences to the families who were victim of the Pahalgam terror attack.

The Taliban-ruled Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi said, “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan categorically condemns the recent attack on tourists in the Pahalgam region of Jammu and Kashmir, and expresses condolences to the bereaved families.”

Abdul Qahar Balkhi said “such incidents undermine efforts to ensure regional security and stability.”

As many as 26 tourists, including a Navy officer and a Karnataka businessman, were shot dead by reportedly four terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam on Tuesday, April 22, in one of the deadliest attack in the Valley since the Pulwama strike in 2019.

The Resistance Front (TRF), a shadow outfit of the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group, claimed responsibility for the attack.

In the wake of the dastardly terrorist attack in Pahalgam, India announced five major decisions against Pakistan for its alleged support to cross-border terrorism.

India announced the abeyance of the Indus Waters Treaty “with immediate effect, until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism”.

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said integrated checkpost Attari will be closed with immediate effect and those who recently crossed the Attari border with valid endorcements were asked to leave through the same before May 1, 2025.

No Pakistani national will now be allowed to travel to India under SAARC visa Exemption scheme. Any Pakistani national currently in India under SPES visa has 48 hours to leave India.

“Any SVES visas issued in the past to Pakistani nationals are deemed cancelled. Any Pakistani national currently in India under SVES visa has 48 hours to leave India,” Vikram Misri said.

Defence, Military, Naval, and Air Advisors in the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi have been declared persona non grata (Latin phrase for unwelcome person) and asked to leave the country in a week. India will also be withdrawing its own Defence, Navy and Air advisors from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.