Pakistan rejects Afghan Taliban claims of weapons smuggled into Afghanistan as 'frivolous, baseless'

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Sunday rubbished claims made by the Afghan Taliban about weapons allegedly smuggled from Pakistan into Afghanistan as “frivolous” and “baseless”. In a statement shared on X, the ministry said, “The Afghan Taliban regime’s claim that weapons are being smuggled from Pakistan into Afghanistan for so-called ‘subversive activities’ is frivolous, baseless and contrary to established facts.”

It noted that Afghanistan was already awash with “enormous quantities of sophisticated weapons and military equipment abandoned after the withdrawal of US and coalition forces (worth an estimated $7.2 billion), in addition to large stocks of Soviet-era weaponry accumulated over decades of conflict”. “Attempts to manufacture a Pakistani connection to such weapons seem designed to divert international attention from the far more serious and documented concern[s]: terrorist groups continue to find space, facilitation and operational freedom on Afghan soil to plan, support and execute attacks inside Pakistan,” the ministry stated. It added that rather than resorting to “implausible accusations and blame-shifting”, the Afghan Taliban must address the “presence of terrorist sanctuaries on their territory and fulfil their repeated commitments that Afghan soil will not be allowed to be used for terrorism against Pakistan or any other country”. Pakistan has been continuously pushing the Afghan Taliban regime to rein in the terrorist hideouts in Afghanistan and prevent the violent groups from carrying out terror activities against Pakistan from its soil. Officials say those appeals have gone unheeded.

Last month, following multiple major attacks in Balochistan, Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) and Chief of the Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir had asserted that terrorism originating from across the border would be crushed with the “full might of the state”. In November 2025, Pakistan warned at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) that the acquisition of abandoned weapons by terrorist groups based in Afghanistan not only threatens peace and security in Pakistan but also in the region. In April that year, an investigation by The Washington Post revealed that terrorists who attacked the Jaffar Express train in Balochistan used weapons left behind when United States forces withdrew from Afghanistan.