ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MOIB) has categorically rejected allegations that its forces supported or accompanied armed opposition groups in Badakhshan, as claimed by Afghan Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid in an interview.
In a statement on X, the ministry said Mujahid had alleged that Pakistan’s military was physically involved in the violence in Badakhshan.
The Afghan interim government spokesperson, speaking to DW, said, “we are aware, they invite them to Islamabad,” referring to those who had allegedly created “some insecurity in Badakhshan” and crossed over from Chitral before fleeing back to the Pakistani district.
The ministry said “nothing can be farther than this from the truth,” categorically rejecting the “baseless allegation” that Pakistani forces supported or accompanied armed opposition groups in Badakhshan.
“No credible evidence has been presented to substantiate this false narrative,” it said.
Badakhshan, which borders Tajikistan, China and Pakistan, has witnessed a number of attacks and clashes involving armed groups in recent weeks.
Last month, a local Taliban official was gunned down. Zabihullah Amiri, head of the provincial information and culture department, was killed by two men on motorcycles on a major road in Badakhshan, the Taliban said.
Similarly, fighting began around Aug 11 in Nusay district between Taliban forces and followers of Juma Khan Fateh, a local Taliban commander of ethnic Tajik origin who had resisted efforts to disarm his network.
The Fateh episode came amid a broader increase in armed instability in Badakhshan during 2026.
ACLED, a conflict monitor, recorded 22 anti-Taliban armed-opposition events in the province from January through July, compared with four from June through December 2025.
Pakistan’s information ministry said the violence in Badakhshan reflected Afghanistan’s “own internal security and governance challenges, not Pakistani interference.”
“Available independent reporting has documented the clashes as an armed struggle against non-inclusive and oppressive Afghan Taliban rule, without establishing any Pakistani involvement,” it said.
Islamabad has consistently supported a peaceful and stable Afghanistan and has no interest in destabilizing its neighbor, the ministry said.
“The Taliban regime should address the growing challenges arising from their own governance failures instead of blaming Pakistan for Afghanistan’s internal problems,” it said.
“Assertions without evidence cannot substitute facts,” the ministry added.