Islamabad: At the United Nations Pakistan has called for collective action to counter-terrorism in the Sahel and West Africa. Briefing the United Nations Security Council, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, stated that the international community confronts a critical counter-terrorism inflection point, marked by proliferating groups exploiting regional fragmentation and systemic vulnerabilities.

According to Radio Pakistan, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad highlighted Pakistan’s unparalleled sacrifices and vital contributions to global counter-terrorism. He noted that Pakistan, as a frontline state against terrorism, has paid a heavy price, losing more than eighty thousand lives and suffering billions of dollars in economic losses.

He further added that Pakistan’s key role in dismantling Al-Qaeda demonstrates a level of counter-terrorism expertise that few countries possess. Despite these sacrifices, Pakistan continues to face threats from terrorist groups supported by its neighbor.

On the regional developments in the Sahel and West Africa, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar characterized the rapidly deteriorating security environment as deeply alarming. He advanced a coherent framework of priority measures to anchor a regional counter-terrorism response, beginning with the restoration of trust and collective security arrangements among West African and Sahelian States to confront cross-border terrorist networks.

He reaffirmed that robust national capacities to confront technological and financial enablers of terrorism, alongside efforts to address structural drivers of instability, are indispensable to enduring peace. Ambassador Asim Iftikhar affirmed that Pakistan will remain a committed partner in advancing that shared responsibility.