ISLAMABAD – Pakistan strongly rejected former US diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad’s allegations that its military is recruiting and arming Afghan nationals to fight the Taliban and Pakistan-hostile militant groups, ruling out claims as fabricated, baseless and an attempt to divert attention from terrorist sanctuaries inside Afghanistan.
Khalilzad, the former US special representative for Afghanistan, took to social media platform X to raise fresh allegations about Pakistan’s alleged involvement in arming Afghan nationals. He claimed that multiple reports had circulated about Afghan nationals being armed to fight the Taliban inside Afghanistan. He further alleged that new reports suggested the Pakistani military was recruiting Afghan citizens to confront armed groups hostile to Islamabad.
The former American diplomat warned that such developments could push already strained relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan into an even deeper crisis.
*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
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting’s official fact-check account on X described Khalilzad’s allegations as fabricated and without factual foundation. The ministry challenged the narrative that Pakistan’s counterterrorism operations were linked to recruiting Afghan nationals or supporting armed factions inside Afghanistan.
It maintained that Pakistan’s security operations were directed against terrorist organisations operating from territories under the Afghan Taliban’s control, particularly groups posing direct threats to Pakistan’s national security.
Rejecting Khalilzad’s claims, the ministry mentoned real security challenge confronting region: the continued presence and activities of terrorist organisations on Afghan soil. The statement referred to multiple United Nations monitoring reports documenting the presence and activities of militant organisations, including Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Al-Qaeda, inside Afghanistan.
Islamabad maintained that these findings reinforced its longstanding concerns about terrorist groups using Afghan territory to threaten Pakistan. The ministry stressed that Pakistan had remained at the forefront of the fight against terrorism, making enormous sacrifices in its efforts to protect national security and maintain regional stability.
The exchange has added another layer of controversy to relations between Islamabad and Kabul, with accusations concerning cross-border militancy remaining a major source of friction.
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