Islamabad Rebuts Kabul’s ‘Lacking Capacity’ Claim
Pakistan’s information ministry has rebutted the Afghan Taliban’s claim that it lacks the capacity to fuel insecurity in other countries, accusing Kabul of resorting to diversionary allegations instead of stopping its soil from being used for terrorist attacks against Pakistan. Islamabad rebuts Kabul’s position with reports from the United Nations and the United States, which document militant groups operating from Afghan territory.
The ministry’s rebuttal came after the spokesperson for the interim Taliban administration in Afghanistan, Zabiullah Mujahid, said in a statement on X last night that it was not in his country’s interest to create insecurity in Pakistan or to support any acts of instability there.
He further contended that the Taliban do not possess the capabilities or resources to foment or finance insecurity in other countries, and claimed that Islamabad’s misguided approach distracted Pakistan’s security forces from their own duties.
Islamabad rebuts Kabul: the UN and US reports cited
On Saturday, the information ministry stated that Pakistan’s concerns are not based on conjecture. It backed its stance on cross-border terrorism from Afghanistan by citing a report by the United Nations Security Council’s Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team and another report submitted to the United States Congress.
The UN team, in its 16th report, examined the presence and activities of terrorist groups in Afghanistan, the ministry said. It further noted that the report by the US Lead Inspector General’s Operation Enduring Sentinel for January to March 2026 stated that the Afghan Taliban continued to allow the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to operate from Afghan territory.
The ministry also highlighted other findings from the report, which stated that the Taliban continued to allow the TTP greater liberty and support, resulting in increased TTP attacks against Pakistan. It added that the TTP remained the largest in number among those groups.
“The report estimated TTP strength at 4,000 to 6,000 fighters. These assessments underscore the seriousness of Pakistan’s concerns regarding terrorist sanctuaries and support networks operating from Afghan soil,” the information ministry emphasised.
A relationship strained for years
Ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been strained in the past few years as Islamabad continues to voice its concern over cross-border terrorism. September witnessed another bout of conflict between the two neighbours, with Pakistan carrying out calibrated airstrikes in the border region in response to terrorist attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
This was followed by drone incursions from across the border, which Islamabad said were shot down, and two further rounds of retaliatory airstrikes. The sequence showed how quickly exchanges on the border can escalate, and why both sides’ public statements carry weight beyond the immediate audience.
The information ministry’s use of UN and US reports is meant to shift the argument from claims to documents. By citing the Security Council monitoring team’s findings and the US inspector general’s report, Islamabad is presenting its case as one supported by outside assessments, not only by its own intelligence.
The Khalilzad angle, already answered
Earlier in the day, the information ministry rejected former United States envoy Zalmay Khalilzad’s baseless and misleading allegations that Pakistan was arming Afghans to fight the Taliban. Pakistan’s rejection of Khalilzad’s allegations was covered earlier on Saturday, and the ministry’s response to Kabul forms the second half of the same day’s exchange.
Khalilzad, who served as special representative to Afghanistan during the first Trump administration, had claimed on X that there were many reports of Pakistan arming Afghans to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan. The ministry said his sweeping assertions merely recycled speculative narratives as part of his personal agenda to prop up the terrorism-supporting Taliban regime.
The two rebuttals together show a single message from Islamabad: that the Afghan Taliban regime, not Pakistan, bears responsibility for preventing its territory from being used by groups that attack Pakistan, including India-sponsored proxies for terrorism against Pakistan, as the ministry put it.
What happens next
The immediate question is whether Kabul responds to the ministry’s citation of UN and US reports, or lets the exchange rest. The Taliban spokesman’s original statement sought to distance Kabul from insecurity inside Pakistan. Islamabad’s reply, built on outside reports, seeks to close that distance by pointing to documented TTP presence and activity.
For the border region, the stakes are practical. Cross-border attacks, airstrikes and drone incursions all flow from the same dispute over sanctuaries. Until the two sides agree on the facts about militant groups on Afghan soil, the cycle of claims and rebuttals is likely to continue.
