Pakistan urges Afghanistan to act against militants and denies recruiting Afghan fighters

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan urged Afghanistan’s Taliban government on Saturday to take verifiable action against militants it says operate from Afghan territory, dismissing Kabul’s assertion that Islamabad was shifting blame for its own security failures.

In a separate statement on X, Pakistan’s Information Ministry rejected allegations that it was arming Afghans to fight the Taliban or recruiting them to fight anti-Pakistan insurgents. Former U.S. envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad had cited reports of both activities a day earlier.

The exchanges come amid heightened tensions between the two sides over militant activity, repeated border clashes and Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan, deepening a longstanding dispute over responsibility for cross-border violence.

Khalilzad on Friday wrote on X that there had been reports of Pakistan arming Afghans to fight the Taliban inside Afghanistan and of the Pakistani military recruiting Afghans to fight anti-Pakistan insurgents. He offered no evidence, and did not identify the sources of those reports.

Last month, Afghanistan said its forces killed 28 fighters and captured 32 others, including alleged members of the Islamic State group said to have crossed from neighboring Pakistan.

Pakistan frequently accuses Kabul of sheltering the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, as well as the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army, or BLA, and al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent, an affiliate of the global extremist network. The TTP is separate from but closely allied with Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban.

On Friday, the Afghan Taliban government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said that Kabul was not responsible for insecurity in Pakistan. He accused Pakistani military and security agencies of shifting blame when they failed to maintain security at home. He said Kabul had neither an interest in destabilizing Pakistan nor the capability to foment or finance unrest in other countries.

In Islamabad, the Information Ministry on X said those assertions did not address what it described as documented security concerns. It cited attempted cross-border infiltration, the deaths of Afghan nationals and members of militant groups during Pakistani counterterrorism operations, and the recovery of foreign-origin weapons as matters requiring scrutiny.

According to the ministry, the U.S. report covering January through March 2026 estimated the strength of the Pakistani Taliban at 4,000 to 6,000 fighters.

Pakistan is currently conducting multiple operations against militants near the Afghan border.

The ministry said these security measures were aimed at targeting militant threats, not the Afghan people. It urged the Taliban government to end any tolerance, facilitation or support for militant organizations, including the TTP and the BLA, and prevent Afghan territory from being used to plan or launch attacks against Pakistan.

Militant violence has surged in Pakistan in recent years, with much of it blamed on TTP and BLA. Pakistan says many TTP leaders and BLA insurgents have found sanctuary in Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power there in 2021, an allegation Kabul denies.

Pakistani authorities say more than 2,800 militant attacks since January have killed 3,000 people across Pakistan, mainly in the northwest and Balochistan province.