KARACHI: Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said on Tuesday, “negotiations and terrorist attacks cannot proceed simultaneously,” as he briefed Acting US Ambassador Natalie Baker on a deadly suicide blast outside a district court in Islamabad and Pakistan’s ongoing counter-terrorism operations.

The Nov. 11 attack near the entrance of the court complex in the capital killed 12 people and wounded nearly three dozen. It was the first major suicide bombing in Islamabad in nearly three years and came amid a sharp rise in militant attacks across the country. 

Pakistani authorities have since announced the arrest of several suspects linked to the bombing, saying they were part of a cell with connections to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a Pakistani militant group separate from but ideologically aligned with the Afghan Taliban rulers in Kabul and responsible for hundreds of attacks across Pakistan over the past decade.

Officials, including Naqvi, have repeatedly accused Afghan nationals and sanctuaries across the border of involvement in recent attacks in the country, which have strained already fraught ties with Kabul, which denies the claims. 

“‎Mohsin Naqvi emphasized that negotiations and terrorist attacks cannot proceed simultaneously,” the interior ministry said in a statement after Naqvi met Baker in Islamabad. 

Naqvi’s comments to the US envoy come less than two weeks after peace talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan in Istanbul collapsed, with a Taliban spokesman saying negotiations had ended after Islamabad demanded Kabul take responsibility for Pakistan’s internal security and rein in anti-Pakistan militants operating from Afghan territory. Islamabad said the Afghan side showed “lack of commitment and seriousness” and had refused to provide written guarantees against cross-border attacks.

Although a ceasefire along the border formally remains in place, relations between the two neighbors have sharply deteriorated since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021. 

Naqvi also briefed Baker on the latest findings from the Islamabad bombing probe, saying the militants intended to target the court but were unable to enter due to security measures. All individuals involved in the attack have been traced, and the facilitators have been arrested, he said. 

“Acting US Ambassador condemned the suicide blast near the Islamabad court and expressed condolences to the families of the deceased. She also paid tribute to Pakistan’s sacrifices in the fight against terrorism,” the statement said. 

For Washington, the renewed violence and the breakdown of Pakistan-Afghanistan talks raise the stakes in a region where it has long supported counter-terrorism cooperation but now has limited on-the-ground presence after its 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan.