Pakistan rejects Khalilzad’s claims of arming Afghans to fight Taliban

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Saturday rejected allegations by former US special representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad that it is arming Afghans to fight the Taliban or recruiting Afghan nationals to target anti-Pakistan insurgents.

In a statement posted on X, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting described the allegations as “baseless and misleading”, accusing Khalilzad of recycling speculative narratives to support what it called the “terrorism supporting Taliban regime”.

The ministry said it was misleading to conflate Pakistan’s counterterrorism operations against militant organisations operating from areas under the control of Afghanistan’s Taliban government with allegations that Islamabad was recruiting Afghan nationals or sponsoring armed groups inside Afghanistan.

*𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 | 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 & 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠*

◾️ Pakistan categorically rejects the baseless and misleading allegations by Zalmay Khalilzad of arming former Afghans to fight Taliban and their supporters terrorist groups. His sweeping baseless assertions merely recycle speculative narratives as part of his personal agenda to prop terrorism supporting Taliban regime.

◾️ It is particularly misleading to conflate Pakistan’s legitimate counterterrorism operations against terrorist organisations operating from inside Afghan Taliban regime controlled areas threatening its citizens with allegations of recruiting Afghan nationals or sponsoring armed groups inside Afghanistan. Pakistan remains at the forefront of the fight against terrorism and has made enormous sacrifices in protecting regional peace and security.
◾️ Successive UN monitoring reports have documented the continued presence and activities of terrorist organisations, including TTP and Al-Qaeda, inside Afghanistan. Khalilzad’s allegations conveniently divert attention from the Afghan Taliban regime’s responsibility to prevent its territory from being used by Indian sponsored proxies for terrorism against Pakistan.
◾️Mr Khalilzad paddling of such unsubstantiated allegations only expose his skewed agenda based views.

𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐝

— Fact Checker MoIB (@FactCheckerMoIB) October 24, 2026

Pakistan has repeatedly accused the Afghan Taliban government of allowing militant groups to operate from Afghan territory and carry out attacks inside Pakistan. Kabul denies the allegations.

Pakistan cites UN reports on militant presence in Afghanistan

The information ministry said successive United Nations monitoring reports had documented the continued presence and activities of militant organisations, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Al-Qaeda, inside Afghanistan.

It accused Khalilzad of diverting attention from what it described as the Afghan Taliban government’s responsibility to prevent its territory from being used by “Indian sponsored proxies” to carry out attacks against Pakistan.

The ministry also criticised Khalilzad’s remarks as unsubstantiated and driven by what it called a “skewed agenda”.

Khalilzad, who served as the US special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation, had raised the allegations in a post on X.

“There have been many reports that Pakistan is arming Afghans to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan,” he wrote.

“Now there are reports that the Pakistani military is recruiting Afghans to fight against anti-Pakistan insurgents,” he added, warning that relations between the two countries were likely to deteriorate further.

Pakistan links dialogue to counterterrorism action

Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have deteriorated in recent months amid Islamabad’s accusations that Kabul is sheltering militants responsible for a surge in attacks inside Pakistan.

Pakistan has carried out airstrikes inside Afghanistan, saying it targeted militant hideouts. Kabul has condemned the strikes as violations of its sovereignty.

A day before the ministry’s statement, Pakistan reiterated its willingness to engage in dialogue with Afghanistan, provided Kabul acknowledged terrorist activities originating from its territory and agreed to a verifiable mechanism to prevent them.

Foreign Office Spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan said during his weekly press briefing that Pakistan was not opposed to negotiations and had been engaged in talks with Kabul since 2021.

He said Islamabad believed disputes could be resolved through dialogue but stressed that any engagement must deliver concrete results, particularly in addressing cross-border terrorism.

The spokesperson said Afghanistan would need to provide assurances that a verifiable mechanism would be established to control and eliminate terrorist activities originating from its territory.

Pakistan remained prepared for diplomacy, he added, but dialogue without progress on its security concerns would serve little purpose.