Pakistan rejects former US envoy Khalilzad’s allegations of arming anti-Taliban groups
Pakistan rejects Khalilzad’s allegations of arming Afghans to fight the Taliban, calling the former US envoy’s claims baseless and speculative
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File photo of former US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad.
Photo: realZalmayMK/X
Pakistan on Saturday rejected as baseless allegations by former US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad that Islamabad was arming former Afghan personnel to fight the Taliban and groups supporting it.
The Information Ministry said the claims relied on speculation and reflected a personal agenda.
Why did Pakistan reject Khalilzad’s allegations of arming Afghans?
In its statement, the Information Ministry said the allegations were unsubstantiated and reflected a biased agenda. It called it misleading to equate Pakistan’s counterterrorism operations against militant groups in areas under Afghan Taliban control with recruiting Afghan nationals or backing armed groups inside Afghanistan.
*𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 | 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 & 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠*◾️ Pakistan categorically rejects the baseless and misleading allegations by Zalmay Khalilzad of arming former Afghans to fight Taliban and their supporters terrorist groups. His sweeping baseless assertions merely recycle speculative narratives as part of his personal agenda to prop terrorism supporting Taliban regime. ◾️ It is particularly misleading to conflate Pakistan's legitimate counterterrorism operations against terrorist organisations operating from inside Afghan Taliban regime controlled areas threatening its citizens with allegations of recruiting Afghan nationals or sponsoring armed groups inside Afghanistan. Pakistan remains at the forefront of the fight against terrorism and has made enormous sacrifices in protecting regional peace and security.◾️ Successive UN monitoring reports have documented the continued presence and activities of terrorist organisations, including TTP and Al-Qaeda, inside Afghanistan. Khalilzad's allegations conveniently divert attention from the Afghan Taliban regime's responsibility to prevent its territory from being used by Indian sponsored proxies for terrorism against Pakistan.◾️Mr Khalilzad paddling of such unsubstantiated allegations only expose his skewed agenda based views. 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐝
— Fact Checker MoIB (@FactCheckerMoIB) October 24, 2026
The ministry said Pakistan had made substantial sacrifices in the fight against terrorism and remained committed to regional peace and security. It added that successive United Nations monitoring reports had documented the continued presence and activities of militant organizations, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and al Qaeda, in Afghanistan.
The ministry also accused Khalilzad of diverting attention from what it described as the Afghan Taliban administration’s responsibility to prevent its territory from being used by Indian-sponsored groups to carry out attacks in Pakistan. It said his claims sought to bolster the Taliban administration.
Who is Zalmay Khalilzad and what has he said before?
Khalilzad negotiated the 2020 US agreement with the Taliban that paved the way for the withdrawal of international forces from Afghanistan. He has repeatedly called for Islamabad and Kabul to reach a negotiated settlement, and made a similar appeal in January this year.
Late last year, Pakistan’s Information Ministry criticized Khalilzad for creating what it called a “false impression” that the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) militant group had a presence in Punjab.
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