Pakistan’s latest political storm has brewed over a cup of tea that once symbolised arrogance and now stands for national humiliation.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has openly rebuked the country’s own spy agency for what he called a “costly mistake” -- the now-infamous Kabul visit by then-ISI chief Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed, whose smiling photo sipping tea at the Serena Hotel went viral days after the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan.
“Drinking tea in Kabul came at a great cost for Pakistan,” Dar told the Senate on Tuesday. “That cup of tea opened borders… invited hardcore terrorists into Pakistan.”
Dar did not hold back in his criticism. He accused Hameed’s 2021 engagement with the Taliban of enabling the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to regroup and re-enter Pakistan’s tribal belt. “The ex-DG ISI’s cup of tea hosted the very TTP elements who had previously burnt the Pakistani flag in Swat,” he said. He added that the “release of hundreds of TTP militants” after that visit directly led to the deaths of “thousands of Pakistani soldiers and citizens.”
He called the event a “big mistake” and warned that “it should not be repeated again.”
Dar’s comments mark one of the sharpest public criticisms by a top Pakistani official against the military establishment, which for decades has treated Afghanistan as a “strategic backyard.” The remarks also show growing frustration within Pakistan’s civilian leadership over the blowback from its own policies of nurturing militant proxies.
In what appears to be a desperate attempt to shift blame, Pakistan is also trading barbs with the Taliban regime in Kabul.
The feud deepened after Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed that Islamabad had rejected an Afghan offer to deport TTP fighters based in Afghanistan. “During the talks, the Islamic Emirate offered to deport the individuals Pakistan considers a security threat, but that proposal was rejected by the Pakistani side,” Mujahid said. He added that Pakistan had instead asked the Taliban to “rein in these people within Afghanistan.”
Mujahid went further, accusing Pakistan of trying to pave the way for the return of US forces to the Bagram airbase through its recent security actions.
Pakistan’s Foreign Office fired back, calling the Afghan statement “false and misleading.” It insisted that Islamabad had demanded the arrest or control of militants inside Afghanistan and, when told they were Pakistani nationals, had proposed their handover “through designated border posts.”
But for all the diplomatic denials, the underlying message is clear. Pakistan’s decades-old double game with terror groups has finally caught up with it.
The same establishment that once gloated over its influence in Kabul is now reeling from the fallout of that misplaced triumphalism. The Taliban, once a supposed ally, has turned into an uncooperative neighbour sheltering TTP operatives, while Pakistan faces rising attacks at home and an increasingly restless population questioning the cost of its “strategic depth” obsession.
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