Pakistan and UK share concern over Afghan-based terror threat at annual counter-terrorism dialogue in Islamabad
Pakistan and the United Kingdom have held their annual bilateral counter-terrorism dialogue in Islamabad, voicing shared concern over terrorist groups operating in and from Afghanistan, including the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, and agreeing to hold the next round in London in 2027.
Pakistan and the United Kingdom have voiced shared concern over the continuing threat from terrorist groups operating in and from Afghanistan, after holding their annual bilateral dialogue on counter-terrorism in Islamabad on Wednesday, Pakistan's Foreign Office has said.
The meeting, the latest round of the Pakistan-UK Counterterrorism Dialogue, brought together officials from both countries to review cooperation against terrorism at bilateral and multilateral levels and to discuss the evolving regional and global security environment. According to the Foreign Office statement issued after the talks, both sides reaffirmed their shared commitment to combating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.
At the centre of the discussion was Afghanistan. Both delegations expressed concern over the continuing threat posed by terrorist groups, including the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), operating in and from Afghan territory, and stressed the urgent need for a stable and secure Afghanistan as the foundation for lasting regional peace and prosperity. The wording matters because Pakistan has repeatedly argued that cross-border attacks, particularly in its north-west, are planned or facilitated from across the Afghan border, a claim that has shaped much of its recent security diplomacy.
The delegations were led on the Pakistani side by the Foreign Office's Director General for Counter Terrorism, and on the British side by a director for national and economic security at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. The seniority of the two teams underlined that this was not a routine working-level contact but the formal annual review of a bilateral security relationship that both capitals treat as strategically important.
Beyond the headline concern over Afghanistan, the talks covered the changing shape of the terrorist threat. The two sides discussed threats from terrorist organisations and transnational networks, and exchanged views on how extremist groups are adapting to new conditions. According to the Foreign Office account, the discussion also focused on exchanging best practice and exploring new avenues of cooperation against emerging trends in terrorism, including online propaganda, the exploitation of social media platforms, misinformation and disinformation campaigns, and the misuse of emerging technologies.
That part of the agenda reflects a broader shift in counter-terrorism work. Where earlier rounds of such dialogues concentrated mainly on armed groups, financing and border security, officials on both sides are now spending as much time on the online environment in which recruitment, propaganda and incitement take place, and on the technologies that can amplify them. The Islamabad talks treated those questions as a practical area for joint work rather than as an abstract concern.
The British delegation also expressed condolences over the loss of innocent lives in terrorist attacks in Pakistan and reiterated that the United Kingdom stood with Pakistan in the fight against terrorism, according to the Foreign Office statement. The UK side further acknowledged Pakistan's efforts for regional stability, a gesture that Islamabad is likely to read as recognition of the costs it says it continues to bear from militancy.
For Pakistan, the dialogue comes at a sensitive moment domestically. The federal government has recently imposed governor's rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, citing the provincial government's disengagement from the fight against terrorism, and the security situation in the province has been a central theme of national debate. Against that background, a public reaffirmation of counter-terrorism cooperation with a major Western partner carries both practical and political weight for Islamabad.
For the United Kingdom, the dialogue fits a pattern of regular security engagement with Pakistan that spans law enforcement, intelligence sharing and multilateral forums. London's interest is partly in preventing threats from reaching beyond South Asia, and partly in maintaining a working relationship with a country whose stability it regards as important for the wider region. The annual format gives both sides a predictable channel for raising concerns, including disagreements, without waiting for a crisis.
The two sides agreed to hold the next round of the dialogue in London in 2027, on mutually agreed dates. What happens between now and then will be the real test of Wednesday's meeting: whether the shared concern over Afghan-based groups translates into concrete cooperation on border security, intelligence and the online threat, and whether the emphasis on a stable Afghanistan produces any change in the conditions that both delegations identified as the main source of danger. The next round, when it meets, will be judged against those outcomes rather than against the statement issued in Islamabad.
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