Well, exactly. The gang in question rather publicly issued a mea culpa and said they will be taking steps to make sure that doesn't happen again specifically because they're worried about that. I doubt things would ever progress as far as Afghanistan, but I'm sure they're thinking that their government might not continue to let them do their thing if the specter of international sanctions should arise.
You could say the same for Afghanistan 20 years ago, but plausible deniability will only go so far..
If these hackers eventually end up hurting a lot of people, then who knows what happens next?