Pakistan on Friday accused India of supporting anti-Pakistan militant groups through Afghan territory, just hours after Afghanistan’s Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi met External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in New Delhi.
The remarks, made by Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, Director General of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), came during a press briefing in Peshawar, where he detailed Pakistan’s worsening security situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“Indian proxies are operating from Afghan soil to target Pakistan. We have shared proof and evidence with Kabul,” Chaudhry said, according to local media reports.
He claimed that India was using Afghanistan as a base to aid the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a group responsible for repeated attacks on Pakistani security forces.
Taliban assures India: No terror activity from Afghan soil
The allegations came as Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi met S. Jaishankar in what marked the first high-level contact between India and the Taliban since 2021. Muttaqi reiterated that Afghanistan will not allow its territory to be used to target other nations.
“Not even one inch of Afghan soil is controlled by any group other than the Islamic Emirate. These groups are no longer present in Afghanistan. We conducted operations and eliminated them,” Muttaqi told journalists in Delhi.
Muttaqi’s visit, from October 9 to 16, includes a series of diplomatic engagements aimed at securing formal recognition for the Taliban government. So far, only Russia has accepted the regime officially.
India, meanwhile, announced plans to reopen its embassy in Kabul, which was shut down following the Taliban’s 2021 takeover, signaling a limited but growing diplomatic engagement.
Pakistan-Taliban tensions rise over airstrikes
The Taliban administration in Kabul, however, accused Pakistan of conducting airstrikes inside Afghanistan on Thursday night — in Kabul and Paktika province — and warned Islamabad of “serious consequences.”
Pakistan has neither confirmed nor denied the strikes but said its patience with Kabul is wearing thin. The ISPR chief noted reports of cross-border operations while avoiding direct acknowledgment.
Pakistan’s counter-terror raids kill 30 militants
In a separate development, Pakistan’s army said it had killed 30 militants during intelligence-based raids in Orakzai district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The operations followed an ambush earlier this week in which 11 soldiers, including two senior officers, were killed when TTP fighters attacked a military convoy.
The Pakistani Taliban also claimed responsibility for another assault on a police facility in Dera Ismail Khan, where multiple explosions were reported Friday night.
Background: TTP’s growing threat
The TTP, inspired by the Afghan Taliban’s ideology, has waged an insurgency against Islamabad for over a decade. The group seeks to overthrow Pakistan’s government and establish strict Sharia rule.
“No politician or politics is above the state. Those facilitating terrorists will not be spared,” Chaudhry warned during the press conference, urging stronger enforcement of Pakistan’s National Action Plan against terrorism.
India dismisses Pakistan’s claims
India has consistently rejected Pakistan’s accusations as “baseless and politically motivated.” New Delhi maintains that its engagement with the Taliban is limited to humanitarian aid, development projects, and regional stability.
The latest exchange underscores rising tensions between Islamabad, Kabul, and New Delhi, as all three nations attempt to assert influence in post-withdrawal Afghanistan.
