Pakistan Rejects Khalilzad's 'Baseless' Claims of Arming Afghans Against Taliban, Demands Kabul Act on Terrorism

Pakistan on Saturday categorically rejected former United States envoy Zalmay Khalilzad's claims that it is arming Afghans to fight the Taliban, with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting calling the allegations "baseless and misleading" and accusing the ex-diplomat of recycling speculative narratives to prop up the Taliban regime in Kabul.

Main News Report

The ministry's response, issued through its official fact-check account on X, came a day after Khalilzad claimed on the platform that there were "many reports that Pakistan is arming Afghans to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan" and that Pakistan was now "recruiting Afghans to fight against anti-Pakistan insurgents", adding that ties between the two countries were likely to "get much worse". Dawn reported that the ministry dismissed the claims outright.

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

The ministry said it was "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," it added.

• Who said it: Pakistan's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, through its Fact Checker account on X.
• What was claimed: Khalilzad alleged Pakistan is arming Afghans to fight the Taliban and recruiting Afghans against anti-Pakistan insurgents.
• Pakistan's reply: The claims are baseless, misleading and unsubstantiated, driven by a "skewed, agenda-based" view.
• Islamabad's counter-charge: Successive United Nations monitoring reports have documented the presence of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Al-Qaeda inside Afghanistan.

Background Context

Khalilzad served as the US special representative to Afghanistan during the first Trump administration and negotiated the US deal with the Taliban that led to the withdrawal of Nato forces from Afghanistan. He has repeatedly called for Islamabad and Kabul to enter a negotiated settlement, most recently in January this year.

This is not his first clash with Islamabad. In November last year, the information ministry criticised Khalilzad for "creating a false impression" of the Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) militant group having a presence in Punjab, after he claimed an IS-K commander had been killed in Punjab's Akhtarabad. The ministry later clarified that a man had been killed during a dacoity and robbery-related incident, not a counterterrorism operation, and that there was no evidence linking him to IS-K.

In March 2023, the Foreign Office reacted strongly to a series of suggestions made by Khalilzad, saying Pakistan did not need "unsolicited advice" on the challenges it faces. That statement also prompted the US State Department to clarify that the former envoy did not represent the country's foreign policy and did not speak for the administration of then-president Joe Biden.

Ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been strained for years as Islamabad continues to voice concern over cross-border terrorism. September witnessed another bout of conflict between the two neighbours, with Pakistan carrying out calibrated airstrikes in the border region in response to terrorist attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, followed by drone incursions from across the border, which Islamabad said were shot down, and two further rounds of retaliatory airstrikes.

Pakistan has repeatedly accused terrorist groups based in Afghanistan of carrying out attacks inside the country. The Express Tribune reported that, according to figures cited by Pakistani authorities, terrorism emanating from Afghan soil claimed the lives of 1,327 Pakistanis and injured another 2,484 in 2026 alone.

Reactions and Statements

The ministry's fact-check statement pulled no punches: "Mr Khalilzad paddling of such unsubstantiated allegations only expose his skewed agenda based views," it said, adding that his allegations "conveniently divert attention from the Afghan Taliban regime's responsibility to prevent its territory from being used by India-sponsored proxies for terrorism against Pakistan".

Dunya News reported the same rebuttal, noting that the ministry stressed Pakistan's counterterrorism operations target groups threatening Pakistani citizens from areas under Afghan Taliban regime control, not Afghan nationals being recruited as proxies.

The row comes as Pakistan continues to press Kabul for verifiable action. In an earlier PakInsight Hub report, Pakistan said it was ready for dialogue with Afghanistan but demanded verifiable action against cross-border terrorism, while Islamabad has also ruled out unconditional talks with Kabul. Earlier this month, Pakistan Army struck Afghan Taliban posts in Kurram after an infiltration attempt.

Why This News Matters

The exchange matters because it exposes how contested the Pakistan-Afghanistan narrative has become in Washington as well as in the region. Khalilzad remains a prominent American voice on Afghanistan, and his claims — even when rejected by Islamabad — shape how US audiences understand the conflict.

For Pakistan, the rebuttal is part of a wider diplomatic effort to keep the focus on what it says is the core issue: terrorist sanctuaries on Afghan soil. Islamabad argues that continued attacks from Afghan territory, documented by UN monitoring reports, cannot be addressed through denials alone, and that Kabul must take concrete steps to dismantle sanctuaries, eliminate training infrastructure and prevent cross-border infiltration.

For the region, the timing is sensitive. With Pakistan-Afghanistan ties already strained after September's cross-border clashes, public rows with former US officials risk hardening positions on both sides just when Islamabad says it wants dialogue — but only dialogue backed by verifiable action.

Future Developments

Attention will now turn to whether Khalilzad responds to the ministry's rebuttal and whether the Afghan Taliban regime issues its own reaction. Any further statement from Washington — particularly whether current US officials distance themselves from the former envoy's claims, as the State Department did in 2023 — will be closely watched in Islamabad.

On the ground, the key test remains whether Kabul takes the concrete steps Pakistan is demanding against groups such as the TTP. Until then, Pakistan's position, as set out in its recent statements, is that dialogue remains open but conditional, and that its counterterrorism operations will continue against organisations threatening its citizens from Afghan soil.

Sources

• Dawn — Pakistan rejects ex-US envoy Khalilzad's 'baseless' allegations of arming Afghans to fight Taliban
• The Express Tribune — Pakistan refutes former US envoy's 'unsubstantiated' allegations of arming Afghans to fight Taliban
• Dunya News — Pakistan rejects Khalilzad's claims of arming former Afghans to fight Taliban

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