A senior Taliban official has said that “malicious elements” operating in a neighbouring country against the Taliban must be neutralised, insisting that defending the group is the duty of all Afghans.

Fathullah Mansour, the Taliban’s deputy minister of transport and civil aviation, made the remarks on Tuesday at a graduation ceremony for more than 3,000 Taliban personnel in Kabul. He said the “current Islamic system” had been achieved at the cost of “the blood of hundreds of thousands of Afghans” and that safeguarding it was an obligation for both men and women.

Referring to past foreign interventions, including those by Britain, the former Soviet Union and US-led forces, Mansour said they were all defeated “through the sacrifices of the people,” adding that the Taliban’s system would also endure “through sacrifice and the use of talents.”

Although Mansour did not identify any specific group, his comments appeared to allude to a recent gathering of Taliban opponents in Pakistan. The two-day meeting, held on 29–30 September, brought together at least 30 political factions, civil-society activists, members of the former Afghan government and around 40 senior former Pakistani officials. Participants issued a joint statement saying peace and stability in both countries were interconnected and that the meeting had created an unprecedented consensus on their shared future.

Mansour’s remarks come amid sharply escalating tensions between the Taliban and Pakistan, which have at times led to deadly border clashes. Islamabad attributes a surge in domestic insecurity to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and affiliated militant groups, which international reports say are based in Afghanistan and operate under Taliban protection.

The Taliban deny harbouring such groups, but documented evidence shows that several TTP leaders are present inside Afghanistan.