- Pakistan rejects Afghanistan's allegations of supporting armed groups in Nuristan.
- Afghanistan claimed Pakistan backed militants involved in deadly clashes.
- Tensions escalate between nations over cross-border attacks and militant sanctuaries.
Islamabad: Pakistan on Sunday rejected Kabul's allegations that Islamabad backed and trained armed groups, including Islamic State militants, involved in deadly clashes with Afghan forces. The statement came hours after Afghanistan's Defence Ministry accused Pakistani security and intelligence agencies of supporting an armed incursion into Nuristan province's Kamdesh district on Saturday. Afghanistan claimed its forces killed 28 fighters and captured 32 others during subsequent fighting. However, the claims could not be independently verified.
Afghanistan's defence ministry, in a post on X, also claimed that some surviving fighters retreated across the Durand Line towards positions of Pakistani militias. It further alleged that most of those involved were former members of Afghanistan's security forces under the previous government that Pakistani intelligence agencies had lured with promises of asylum and well-paid jobs abroad. It alleged they were instead taken to camps along the Durand Line, given short-term military training and sent into Afghanistan to create insecurity in Nuristan, a claim rejected by Pakistan.
Pakistan rejects Afghanistan's claims
Pakistan's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, in a statement on X, said it rejected Afghanistan's claims of Pakistani forces' alleged involvement in any "internal clashes" in the neighbouring country. "The allegations by the Afghan Taliban regime linking Pakistan with the alleged violence in Nuristan are frivolous, baseless and devoid of any truth," the information ministry's fact-check account on X said.
It added that "Pakistan categorically rejects the fabricated claims of involvement by its security forces or intelligence agencies in any internal clashes in Nuristan or elsewhere in Afghanistan, including allegations of recruiting or training former Afghan security personnel or facilitating IS or any other terrorist group operating in Afghanistan."
Not shared evidence
The ministry said "not a shred of evidence" had been produced to substantiate Pakistan's involvement, including identities, documents, communications, forensic evidence or independent verification. Pakistan urged the Taliban government to take "credible and verifiable action" against terrorist organisations operating from Afghan territory and fulfil its commitment that Afghan soil would not be used for terrorism against Pakistan or any other country.
The latest accusations come amid a sharp escalation in already strained relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, with the two sides trading allegations over militant sanctuaries, cross-border attacks, airstrikes and border incursions. The latest cycle of hostilities began on September 21 when Pakistan carried out airstrikes in eastern Afghanistan, saying it had targeted militant hideouts and killed 28 militants.
Afghan authorities said three civilians were killed and four others injured, casualties that were also confirmed by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.
Pakistan-Afghanistan tensions
Tensions escalated further after Pakistan said drones entered its territory from Afghanistan on September 23. Islamabad subsequently carried out aerial and drone strikes against 10 locations in Afghanistan, saying the sites were linked to the attempted drone attacks.
ALSO READ: 'Pakistan Playing Victim Card': Afghanistan After Islamabad Claims Taliban Shelled At Border Region
Kabul condemned the strikes and accused Pakistan of violating its sovereignty. Pakistani and Afghan forces also exchanged fire along the border on September 24-25. Pakistan said Afghan Taliban fighters attempted to enter its territory in Balochistan's Gulistan sector and later claimed that 13 Afghan Taliban personnel were killed. Afghanistan gave a conflicting account of the fighting, which could not be independently verified.
Islamabad has repeatedly accused Kabul of allowing the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and other militant groups to use Afghan territory to launch attacks in Pakistan, a charge Afghanistan's Taliban government denies.
(With inputs from agency)