THE country experienced its deadliest year in over a decade in 2025 as combat-related deaths surged 74%, with militants accounting for more than half the death toll, according to a new report released by an independent think tank.
Islamabad often accuses Kabul of turning a blind eye to cross-border attacks by Pakistani militants, a claim Afghanistan’s Taliban government denies.
Tensions between the two neighbours have been high since October following border clashes that killed dozens and wounded hundreds.
The Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, or PICSS, said violence in Pakistan left 3,413 people dead – up from 1,950 in 2024 – with 2,138 militants killed.
The 124% rise in the death toll from 2024 reflects intensive counterterrorism operations against the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, which is not part of Afghanistan’s Taliban, the report said. The group has intensified attacks on Pakistan’s security forces in recent years.
A roadside bomb killed a passer-by on Thursday and wounded five others in Sibi, a district in Balochistan, according to police chief Ghulam Ali. No group claimed responsibility.
Abdullah Khan, managing director of PICSS, said the high death toll was driven in part by a rise in bombings and the militants’ use of US military equipment left behind during the American withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
The 2025 fatalities also included 667 security personnel, a 26% increase from the previous year, “the highest annual figure since 2011,” Abdullah said, adding that 580 civilian deaths were recorded, “the highest annual toll since 2015”. In addition, 28 members of pro-government peace committees were reported dead.
The Islamabad-based PICSS recorded at least 1,066 militant attacks in 2025 and suicide attacks rose 53%, with 26 incidents reported. It also said security forces arrested about 500 militants during intelligence-based operations last year, up from 272 in 2024, he said, adding that multiple groups, including the TTP, claimed most attacks in 2025.
PICSS released its report weeks after Pakistan’s military spokesman, Lt-Gen Ahmad Sharif Chaudhry, said security forces carried out 67,023 intelligence-based operations in 2025, killing 1,873 militants, who included 136 Afghan nationals.
The border violence between Pakistan and Afghanistan followed the Oct 9 explosions in Kabul that the Afghan Taliban government blamed on Pakistan. A Qatar-mediated ceasefire has largely held since then, though the two sides failed to reach an agreement in November despite holding three rounds of talks in Istanbul.
All border crossings between Pakistan and Afghanistan have remained closed since October, halting bilateral trade and the movement of people.
On Thursday, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said the reopening of border crossings is linked to written assurances from Kabul that it will not allow its soil to be used for attacks in Pakistan.
He said Pakistan recently allowed the United Nations to deliver relief supplies to Afghanistan, but trucks carrying the aid were stranded on the Pakistani side because Afghanistan did not open the gates from their side. — AP
