Pakistan rejects Afghan Taliban claims of weapons smuggled into Afghanistan as 'frivolous, baseless'

Pakistan's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has dismissed the Afghan Taliban's allegations of weapons smuggling from Pakistan into Afghanistan as "frivolous" and "baseless". The ministry's statement on X-Platform asserts that the Taliban's claim is contrary to established facts. It highlights that Afghanistan is already saturated with "enormous quantities of sophisticated weapons and military equipment abandoned after the US and coalition forces' withdrawal (worth an estimated $7.2 billion)", along with "large stocks of Soviet-era weaponry accumulated over decades of conflict".

The ministry further states that efforts to link such weapons to Pakistan aim to divert attention from the pressing issue of terrorist groups exploiting Afghan soil for planning and executing attacks within Pakistan. It advises the Taliban to tackle the issue of "terrorist sanctuaries on their territory" and adhere to their commitments to prevent Afghanistan from being used for terrorism against Pakistan or any other nation.

Pakistan has persistently urged the Taliban to control terrorist sanctuaries in Afghanistan and impede their violent groups from carrying out terror activities on Pakistani soil. This appeal, however, appears to have been disregarded. In a previous incident last month, the Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of the Army Staff, Field Marshal Asim Munir, vowed to crush terrorism originating from across the border with "full might of the state".

Additionally, Pakistan had warned the UNSC in November 2025 about the acquisition of abandoned weapons by terrorist groups based in Afghanistan, which poses a threat to peace and security in Pakistan and the broader region. An investigation by The Washington Post in April of the same year revealed that terrorists involved in the Jaffar Express train attack in Balochistan had used weapons left behind during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.