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WorldSouth Asia

Pakistan tells Taliban to drop 'diversionary allegations' and act against TTP and BLA

Islamabad's information ministry hit back at Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, saying blanket denials cannot answer charges that Afghan officials, including in Kandahar, shelter militants.

From the editorial desk · IslamabadPublished
Kandahar city, Afghanistan (file photo)
Kandahar city, Afghanistan (file photo)Photo: Karla Marshall / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

Key points

  1. Pakistan accused the Taliban of using "diversionary allegations" instead of tackling its security concerns.
  2. It demanded an end to any support for the TTP, the BLA and their affiliates.
  3. Zabihullah Mujahid had said Pakistan was blaming Kabul to hide its own security failures.

Pakistan has told Afghanistan’s Taliban government to stop trading accusations and act against militants it says operate from Afghan soil, in a sharp statement issued by the information ministry in Islamabad late on Saturday.

The ministry said the Taliban had “once again resorted to diversionary allegations” instead of addressing Pakistan’s “legitimate and longstanding security concerns”. “Blaming Pakistan’s security institutions does not absolve the Regime of its responsibility,” it said, and called on Kabul to “end any tolerance, facilitation or support for terrorist organisations, including TTP, BLA and their affiliates”.

It also pointed to the “alleged facilitation of terrorist groups by Afghan Taliban officials, including officials in Kandahar”, the seat of the Taliban’s supreme leadership. “Such concerns cannot be dismissed through blanket denials; they require credible explanations and verifiable action,” the statement said.

What Kabul said

The statement answered a post on Friday by Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, who rejected Pakistani claims that Afghanistan lets militants use its territory. He accused Pakistani military circles and security agencies of blaming Kabul to cover their failure to keep order at home. “We once again strongly reject the repeated accusations directed by Pakistani officials at Afghanistan,” Mujahid wrote.

Islamabad cited a UN Security Council monitoring team report and a US inspector general’s report for January to March 2026, which it said found the Taliban allowed the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to operate from Afghanistan. It said its own security measures were aimed at terrorist threats, not the Afghan people, and that it would keep acting to protect its citizens and territory.

The exchange comes a day after the same ministry rejected former US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad’s claim that Pakistan was recruiting Afghans to fight the Taliban. Relations between the two neighbours have soured steadily since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, with Islamabad blaming a rise in militant violence on sanctuaries across the border.

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