Pakistan Rejects Taliban Claims Over Military Role in Badakhshan
Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has rejected the Taliban administration’s claim that Pakistani soldiers were involved in recent clashes in Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province, calling it baseless. The response comes as insecurity continues in Badakhshan, with the Taliban administration attributing some of the incidents to outside support for its opponents.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban administration’s spokesman, claimed in an interview with Germany’s Deutsche Welle last week that opposition forces entered Badakhshan via Pakistan’s Chitral route and that a number of Pakistani soldiers accompanied them. He also described recent security developments in the province as part of a “conspiracy” and accused Pakistan of creating conditions for armed opponents to operate.
In response, Pakistan’s Information Ministry said in a statement that no credible evidence had been presented to support these claims. The ministry stressed that the ongoing clashes and insecurity in Badakhshan are linked to Afghanistan’s internal problems, not Pakistani interference.
Islamabad also said independent reports describe the Badakhshan clashes as the result of confrontations between opposition groups and the Taliban administration. Pakistan’s Information Ministry urged the Taliban administration to address its own security challenges and internal problems instead of blaming others.
Pakistani officials further said they support a stable Afghanistan and have no interest in instability in the country. The statement came as Badakhshan has recently seen repeated clashes between Taliban administration forces and the Afghanistan Freedom Front.
Badakhshan is one of Afghanistan’s northeastern provinces and borders Pakistan, Tajikistan and China. Its border location and mountainous terrain have made security developments there a sensitive issue in relations between Afghanistan and neighbouring countries.
