Why Afghanistan’s Neighbors Have Not Backed Pakistan’s Strikes on the Taliban — The Diplomat

The eighth meeting of the Moscow Format consultations on Afghanistan in Moscow, Russia, Oct. 5, 2026. On October 5, Moscow hosted the eighth meeting of the special representatives and senior officials from regional countries for the Moscow Format to discuss political and economic relations with Afghanistan and counterterrorism and counter-narcotics cooperation. The Moscow Format includes Afghanistan, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. But the meeting failed to adopt a joint statement because the Pakistani and Afghan delegates disagreed over the language on terrorism. The Taliban objected to the frequent mention of terrorism in reference to Afghanistan. Russia’s special envoy for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, said the Afghan delegates accepted similar language last year. He believed that the changed relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan might have caused Kabul’s objection this time. The meeting was held only a week after the most recent confrontation between Islamabad and Kabul. On September 18 and 26, Pakistan suffered deadly terrorist attacks in its northwestern province, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, that together killed about 44 people and injured about 138. Pakistan responded with airstrikes on different targets in Afghanistan that it believes were the training camps and hideouts of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its associated factions responsible for the cross-border attacks. At the Moscow summit, Pakistan’s delegation said the Taliban were complicit in those…