Info ministry refutes Afghan Taliban's claim of strikes in border areas

Pakistan's information ministry has refuted claims made by the Afghan Taliban regarding strikes on alleged terrorist camps within Pakistan's border regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. The ministry asserted that these claims are false, stating that terrorist camps, including those of ISIS-Khorasan (ISKP) and other organizations, are factually located, operated, and supported from within territory under the Afghan Taliban's control.

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The claims are false as usual

In a statement released on its fact-check account, the ministry declared that the Afghan Taliban regime frequently issues such fabricated statements to mask its alleged patronage of terrorism in neighboring countries. Pakistan uses terms like 'Fitna Al Khawarij' for the banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its affiliates, and 'Fitna Al Hindustan' for groups it accuses of being Indian-sponsored.

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The terrorist camps, including “those of Daesh and more than two dozen other terrorist organisations are factually located, run and patronised from inside the territories under control of [the] Afghan Taliban regime

The ministry also reported that a rudimentary drone belonging to the Taliban regime intruded into Pakistani airspace near Shinko, Khyber. Pakistan's Air Force air defense system identified and neutralized the drone. This incident follows Pakistan's own strikes on terrorist hideouts along its border with Afghanistan approximately one week prior, which Islamabad stated killed 26 terrorists.

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The ministry also shared a picture of the aforementioned drone.

Islamabad has consistently urged the Taliban administration to dismantle terrorist sanctuaries on Afghan soil, particularly those linked to the TTP. However, Afghan Taliban officials have denied these allegations, characterizing militancy in Pakistan as an internal issue. Relations have been strained, including an incident in February involving unprovoked firing by the Afghan Taliban across the border, which led Pakistan to launch Operation Ghazab lil-Haq.

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The Taliban regime was “used to [issuing] such fake and nefarious statements” to cover their “patronisation of terror waged in neighbouring countries and region, including that from Daesh, Fitna Al Khawarij, Fitna Al Hindustan and others