Kandahar governor denies hosting militant leaders' talks on attacks in Pakistan

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The governor of Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province on Friday denied a claim by Pakistan that he had hosted senior militant figures for talks on escalating attacks inside Pakistan.

The office of the governor, Mohammad Shirin Akhund, dismissed the claim made on Thursday by Pakistani army spokesman Lt. Gen. Ahmad Sharif as “propaganda.”

“Pakistani military circles are attempting, through these baseless claims, to justify the killing of civilians in Afghanistan and their own other crimes,” the governor’s office said.

Sharif alleged at a televised news conference on Thursday that members of several militant groups had met in Kandahar on Aug. 26.

He said the meeting was attended by members of the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army, or BLA, an ethnic separatist group fighting for an independent Balochistan; al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent, or AQIS, the global militant network’s South Asian affiliate; and the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, an independent Pakistani Islamist militant network rooted in North Waziristan.

Sharif did not explain how Pakistani authorities learned of the alleged gathering or present evidence to support the claim.

His remarks came hours after Pakistan said it had carried out airstrikes in two Afghan provinces . Afghan officials and the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan said the strikes in Helmand and Kunar provinces had killed at least 10 civilians, most of them children.

Richard Bennett, United Nations' Special Rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, said the strikes appeared to violate international human rights and humanitarian law.

“Accountability is paramount after another airstrike that has killed civilians, most of them children,” Bennett posted on X. “Is this incompetence, negligence or worse? Whatever, there is no justification for doing such irreparable harm to civilians and it appears to violate international human rights and humanitarian law.”

The European Union also criticized Thursday’s airstrikes. “We deplore the civilian deaths following airstrikes in Kunar and Helmand,” the EU’s diplomatic service said in a statement. “We urge both sides to exercise restraint and engage in dialogue.”

Cross-border fighting between Afghanistan and Pakistan has continued for months despite international mediation efforts. Pakistan has carried out airstrikes across several Afghan provinces, including in the capital Kabul, while Afghan fighters have carried out cross-border raids into Pakistan.

Pakistan has long accused Afghanistan’s Taliban government of sheltering militants responsible for cross-border attacks, particularly the Pakistani Taliban, or TTP. The TTP is separate from but allied with the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan in 2021 and have ruled the country since.

Pakistan has faced a surge in militant violence, much of it blamed on the TTP and Baloch separatists. Balochistan has endured a long-running insurgency by groups that accuse Pakistan of discriminating against the province and exploiting its natural resources.