ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has categorically rejected allegations by former US special representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad that it is arming former Afghan nationals to fight the Taliban and their supporter terrorist groups.
In a statement issued on Saturday, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting described the allegations as baseless and misleading.
In a post on X, the ministry’s Fact Check account said Khalilzad’s claims were “baseless and misleading”, adding that his sweeping assertions recycled speculative narratives as part of what it described as a personal agenda to support the Taliban regime.
The statement said it was particularly misleading to conflate Pakistan’s legitimate counterterrorism operations against terrorist organisations operating from areas under the control of the Afghan Taliban regime with allegations that Islamabad was recruiting Afghan nationals or sponsoring armed groups inside Afghanistan.
Pakistan remains at the forefront of the fight against terrorism and has made enormous sacrifices to protect regional peace and security, the ministry said.
Successive United Nations monitoring reports have documented the continued presence and activities of terrorist organisations, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Al-Qaeda, inside Afghanistan, it added.
The ministry further alleged that Khalilzad’s claims diverted attention from the Afghan Taliban regime’s responsibility to prevent its territory from being used by Indian-sponsored proxies to carry out terrorist attacks against Pakistan.
*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
“Khalilzad’s peddling of such unsubstantiated allegations only exposes his skewed, agenda-based views,” the statement added.
Pakistan Says Terrorism from Afghanistan poses serious threat to region