UNAMA Hypocrisy And Silence On Terror Glorification In Afghanistan – OpEd
Key Takeaways:
- UNAMA quickly reports civilian casualties from Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan but largely ignores the cross-border terrorism (especially TTP attacks) planned and facilitated from Afghan soil that provoke those responses.
- UN reports confirm the Taliban continue to harbour TTP leadership and fighters, with most suicide bombers targeting Pakistan originating from Afghanistan, yet this context is routinely omitted from casualty statements.
- True civilian protection and neutrality require consistent scrutiny of both kinetic strikes and the sanctuaries, recruitment, and public glorification of terrorists that drive the cycle of violence.
The protection of civilians is a legal and ethical imperative and there is no rational counter-terrorism policy that would overlook real civilian casualties. However, a consistent approach to civilian protection advocacy is needed. UNAMA made a swift effort to issue a statement confirming the death of 28 civilians and the wounding of 49 civilians due to Pakistani airstrikes in Paktya, Paktika and Kunar on 29 June 2026. This is fair and proper to be subjected to. Where the attention paid to military operations on a near-instant basis is international while the sanctuaries, recruitment networks and propaganda which create cross-border suicide attacks are largely ignored is the problem.
This is extreme in the attack on Cadet College Wana on 10 November 2025, where an explosives laden vehicle hit the gate and gunmen made an attempt to breach an institution, which has hundreds of students and staff. A condolence ceremony for Janullah or Zahid Ayyubi, an Afghan who was reported to be from Mohmand Dara in Nangarhar province, was held on 22 December in the presence of Taliban officials and pictures of the militants were released. Later, Pakistani security source identified Janullah (Zahid Ayyubi) as an Afghan from Mohmand Dara, Nangarhar province, and reported a condolence ceremony for him attended by the Taliban officials and the display of militant posters on 22 December. It needs to be verified in an independent way, but that is why UNAMA should investigate it, and establish whether or not it was an official (or unofficial) encouragement of terrorism or an invitation to fight by making an attacker into a hero whose glorification was aimed at school-going children.
In May 2026, UNAMA has admitted to the problem in its paper. The mission keeps track of incidents in Afghanistan and it is “not mandated” to keep track of incidents in Pakistan, it says. That boundary is the reason for its counting of Afghan casualties and not Pakistanis killed by attacks from the Afghan side that have been planned or facilitated from within Afghanistan. It doesn’t excuse inaction in terms of addressing the cause. A report that only details the last kinetic event doesn’t give a complete narrative on the conflict and leaves out the earlier bombing, sanctuary and recruitment pipeline.
The overall UN system needs to coordinate mandates and UNAMA should keep on recording Afghan civilian deaths. Every statement regarding the cross-border strikes should include references to the findings of the UN against the militants, and ask for information from the Taliban about named militants and differentiate between verified civilians and suspected militants and unresolved cases. If not, the term “civilian” could become a cover for armed groups that work among communities, turning each ensuing casualty into a weapon of mass destruction.
This contradiction is not just on the basis of Pakistani claims. Taliban claims of Afghanistan’s lack of any terrorist groups operating within its territory are “not credible,” says the UN Monitoring Team in its report for December 2025. It says TTP had high profile attacks in Pakistan from Afghan soil and the Taliban authorities were continuing to harbour its leadership and facilitate its operations. TTP had approximately 6,000 fighters in each of the following districts: Khost, Kunar, Nangarhar, Paktika and Paktya. According to the report, most of the suicide bombers in Pakistan were reported from Afghanistan and TTP is still being supported in terms of logistics, operation and finances.
TTP cannot be confused with an imbedded armed actor, it continues to appear in the UN Security Council’s sanctions list. When Pakistan reacts, it’s the same UN architecture which has declared the organisation a terrorist organisation that considers the support structure in Afghanistan to be of no consequence. Mournings after the public funeral for a suicide bomber, particularly if it was reportedly attended by officials, would be more private than public. It would be used as propaganda, recruitment indicating and institutional legitimating. In the absence of a voice, the culture of martyrdom can spread from the militant sphere to the public sphere.
In 2025, Pakistan was measured to have the highest number of deaths, injuries and incidents caused by terrorism with 1,139, 1,595 and 1,045, respectively, as per the Global Terrorism Index 2026. It claimed that 595 attacks and 637 lives had been lost to TTP, putting it as the third deadliest terrorist group in the world. PICSS reported 3,413 deaths due to conflicts in Pakistani territory in 2025, comprising 580 civilians and 667 security personnel deaths. The violence went on in 2026: In the second quarter alone, CRSS recorded 774 violence-related deaths and 336 injuries in 267 incidents.
These statistics don’t make Afghan suffering a thing of the past, they are an indication of why it shouldn’t be. The attacks blamed on militancy groups from Afghanistan have led to strikes in Pakistan, which has also been accused of supporting such groups in the Afghan capital of Kabul, Reuters reported in June. There has to be a sense of urgency to both trigger and response in a credible UN posture. A civilian protection shouldn’t be just reporting on the effects of counterterrorism and being a little institutionally curious about the machinery of terrorism.
UNAMA should also investigate the reported Janullah ceremony, ask for the names and ranks of those who participated in the ceremony, and determine if state resources or premises were used, and urge the Taliban administration to ban official participation in acts which glorify suicide attackers. It should set up a mechanism of liaison with the UN counter terrorism bodies, to ensure that all casualty statements across the border have an accurate context of the armed group and the allegations of attack and sanctuary.
Neutrality is not about dividing up one conflict into moral areas. It demands a level of evidence in all cases, including those involving civilians, militants, state or de facto authorities. UNAMA’s mandate (mission) may end at Afghanistan’s border but the responsibility over providing fair context does not. When terror is publicly praised, and the institution whose job it is to report Afghanistan’s reality remains silent, selective silence doesn’t sound so neutral. It starts to sound like the word ‘permission’.
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