A new report submitted to the UN Security Council has expressed serious doubts over repeated claims by the Afghan Taliban that no militant groups are operating from Afghan soil, declaring such assertions “not credible.”

The report warned that neighbouring countries are increasingly viewing Afghanistan as a potential centre of regional instability.

The findings are contained in the 16th report of the UN Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team, released amid growing international concern over Afghanistan’s security situation.

According to the report, while the Taliban have consistently maintained that no terrorist organisations are present or operating from Afghanistan, this claim does not align with intelligence shared by multiple UN member states.

The UN team noted that although the Taliban have taken action against Daesh-Khorasan, their approach towards other militant groups has been lenient.

This uneven response raises serious questions about the Taliban’s compliance with commitments made under the 2020 Doha Agreement, which makes in mandatory for Afghanistan to prevent its territory from being used against other countries.

The report said several member states have repeatedly confirmed the presence of militant groups in Afghanistan, including Daesh-Khorasan, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Al Qaeda, the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), Jamaat Ansarullah, and Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen Pakistan.

Some of these groups, it added, are using Afghan territory to plan and prepare cross-border attacks.

Al Qaeda was described as having strong and long-standing ties with the Taliban.

Although the group maintains a low public profile, the report said it continues to operate across various Afghan provinces, benefiting from conditions that allow it to regroup and train.

The monitoring team said that despite Taliban operations weakening Daesh-K’s territorial control, the group remains capable of carrying out attacks inside Afghanistan and abroad.

The report identified the banned TTP as the most serious threat to regional security, particularly for Pakistan.

According to UN monitors, the group operates from safe havens inside Afghanistan and enjoys varying levels of support within Taliban ranks.

Taliban authorities, the report said, deny responsibility for curbing the TTP, while sympathy and loyalty towards the group exist among different Taliban factions.

Some senior Taliban leaders reportedly consider the TTP as a liability that strains relations with Pakistan, while others continue to support it.

The report noted that because of long, historical ties, the Taliban are unlikely to take meaningful action against the TTP, even under pressure from Islamabad, and may also lack the ability to rein the group in.

Using Afghan territory, the TTP carried out hundreds of attacks against Pakistan in 2025, with some estimates putting the number at more than 600, the report added.

Many of these attacks were high-profile operations involving coordinated assaults, including suicide bombings and vehicle-borne explosives, the report added.

In most cases, the suicide attackers were identified as Afghan nationals.

The report warned that these attacks have already triggered cross-border military clashes, caused casualties, disrupted bilateral trade and led to the repeated closure of border crossings, further straining relations between the two neighbours.

The report estimated that border closures alone cost the Afghan economy nearly $10 million per day.

Overall, the report concluded that Afghanistan’s current security environment and Taliban policies are contributing to regional instability, contradicting Taliban claims that Afghan soil is not being used for cross-border militancy.

It said UN member states increasingly view Afghanistan as a source of insecurity in the region.