Pakistan rejects Khalilzad's 'baseless' claim it is arming Afghans against the Taliban

Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Saturday categorically rejected allegations by former US special representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad that Pakistan is arming former Afghans to fight the Taliban and allied terrorist groups.

The ministry issued its rejection in a fact-check statement posted on X, responding to a post by Khalilzad in which he claimed Pakistan was arming Afghans to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan and that the Pakistani military was recruiting Afghans to fight anti-Pakistan insurgents. The ministry described the claims as “baseless and misleading”, saying Khalilzad’s “sweeping baseless assertions merely recycle speculative narratives as part of his personal agenda to prop terrorism supporting Taliban regime”.

The statement said it was misleading to conflate Pakistan’s counterterrorism operations against groups operating from areas under Afghan Taliban control with allegations that Islamabad was recruiting Afghan nationals or sponsoring armed groups inside Afghanistan. It cited successive United Nations monitoring reports documenting the continued presence of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Al-Qaeda inside Afghanistan, and said the allegations diverted attention from Kabul’s responsibility to prevent its territory being used by Indian-sponsored proxies for attacks against Pakistan — a claim the ministry itself made, not an established fact.

The exchange comes amid continued Pakistan-Afghanistan border tensions, days after exchanges of fire between Pakistani and Afghan forces.

Sources

• The Express Tribune — “Pakistan refutes former US envoy’s ‘unsubstantiated’ allegations of arming Afghans to fight Taliban”: https://tribune.com.pk/story/2636670/pakistan-refutes-former-us-envoys-unsubstantiated-allegations-of-arming-afghans-to-fight-taliban
• ARY News — “Pakistan rejects allegations of arming former Afghans”: https://arynews.tv/pakistan-rejects-allegations-of-arming-former-afghans-to-fight-taliban
• Dunya News — “Pakistan rejects Khalilzad’s claims of arming former Afghans to fight Taliban”: https://webpr.dunyanews.tv/en/Pakistan/979409-pakistan-rejects-khalilzads-claims-of-arming-former-afghans-to-fight-
• Pakistan Observer — “Pakistan rejects Zalmay Khalilzad’s claims of arming Afghans against Taliban”: https://pakobserver.net/pakistan-rejects-zalmay-khalilzads-claims-of-arming-afghans-against-taliban