Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has strongly rejected the claims made by Amir Khan Muttaqi, the acting Foreign Minister of the Taliban government, regarding Islamabad's alleged links to the ISIS-Khorasan branch. This war of words continues the ongoing disputes between the two countries over border security and counter-terrorism.
On Friday, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Sajjad Haider Khan, stated at a press briefing, "Islamabad rejects the claim of links with ISIS-Khorasan and the responsibility for the situation in Badakhshan and Nuristan lies with the Taliban." He reiterated the claim that Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other armed groups have safe havens in Afghanistan, particularly in Kabul.
These remarks followed comments by Amir Khan Muttaqi at the Moscow Format meeting, where he implicitly suggested some countries had ties with ISIS. Regarding the Moscow meeting's failure to issue a joint declaration, Khan said the Taliban delegation did not agree with the text of previous years' declarations and had distanced itself from its former position.
According to Khan, this disagreement was "a fundamental issue, not just a matter of wording," though he did not provide further details. Russian officials had also previously cited disagreements between the Taliban and Pakistani delegations as the reason for the lack of a joint statement.
Pakistan also claimed that it has informed "relevant parties" of the precise locations of terrorist groups in Afghanistan and that its recent strikes on Afghan soil were carried out with precision on specific targets.
The Taliban government has consistently denied Pakistan's claims about the existence of terrorist safe havens in Afghanistan, accusing Islamabad of being unable to control its own borders. These disputes have pushed relations between the two neighbors to a recent low.
Source: Media
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