Pakistan rejects ex-US envoy Khalilzad’s 'baseless' allegations of arming Afghans to fight Taliban

Pakistan has dismissed former US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad's allegations that the country is arming Afghans to fight the Taliban, calling them "baseless and misleading". The information ministry responded to Khalilzad's claims, stating that they were "speculative narratives" aimed at supporting the Taliban regime. The ministry emphasized that any connection between Pakistan's counterterrorism efforts and the alleged recruitment of Afghan nationals was misleading.

They also highlighted that UN monitoring reports continue to document the presence of terrorist organizations like the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. Khalilzad, who previously negotiated a US deal for the withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan, has previously called for a negotiated settlement between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban, a suggestion he made again in January this year.

The information ministry previously rebuked Khalilzad for creating a false impression about the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) operating in Punjab. Tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been high in recent years due to concerns over cross-border terrorism, with Pakistan carrying out airstrikes in response to terrorist attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.