Pakistan as a source of solidarity & solutions is certainly one way to read history.
Another is to recall that the 9/11 Commission described Pakistan’s pre-9/11 relationship with the Taliban as significant and documented U.S. efforts to end its support. Osama bin Laden was later found and killed in Abbottabad in 2011.
U.S. and other officials also repeatedly accused Pakistan of providing safe haven or support to Taliban and Haqqani-linked figures claims Islamabad denied or contested. The contradiction became especially clear when the Financial Action Task Force placed Pakistan under increased monitoring in June 2018. Pakistan remained on the list until October 2022.
Afghans know this “solidarity” well. After decades in which Afghanistan was shaped by policies associated with “strategic depth,”. Pakistan has carried out large-scale returns and expulsions of Afghans. UNHCR recorded approximately 705,400 returns from Pakistan by 12 September 2026, including about 66,100 deportations.
The deepest irony is that ordinary Pakistanis have suffered enormously from militant violence and policies that, critics argue, distinguished between useful and dangerous militants. Authorities report more than 90,000 terrorism-related deaths among civilians and security personnel.
So yes, Mr. Secretary-General
@antonioguterres the resilience of the Pakistani people deserves admiration. They have endured enormously. But praising the people should not require rewriting the record of the state.
Perhaps Pakistan’s greatest contribution to “solutions” would be to stop pursuing policies that help create the problems it later offers to solve.