The Foreign Office (FO) on Monday rejected allegations made by the Afghan Taliban government regarding civilian casualties in Islamabad’s counterterrorism campaign in the neighbouring country, maintaining that Pakistan’s conduct always “reflected restraint” and the response was “proportionate to the level of threat”.
The Afghan Taliban have repeatedly claimed civilian casualties in Pakistani strikes in Afghanistan; Pakistani authorities have denied the accusations, holding that they target military and terrorist infrastructure.
Recently, a spokesperson for the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed in an interview with CNN that 1,119 Afghan civilians were killed or injured in Pakistani military strikes in Afghanistan since late 2021, according to Afghan media.
In a statement issued on Monday, the FO rejected the “baseless and unsubstantiated” allegations regarding civilian casualties attributed to Pakistan’s counterterrorism operations.
“Disinformation and misleading narratives will neither obscure the threat posed by the terrorist networks operating from Afghan territory nor absolve the Afghan Taliban regime of its responsibility to prevent Afghan soil from being used to plan and launch attacks against Pakistan,” the FO said, adding that attacks emanating from Afghan soil had claimed more than 3,500 casualties in 2026.
It further said that various relevant United Nations mechanisms had reported the situation as well, and the issue had been raised as a serious concern for the international community.
The FO noted that the Afghan Taliban continued to “shelter with impunity a large number of terrorist organisations, including the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and their affiliates, which continue to pose a serious threat to the peace and stability of the region and beyond”.
It said that thousands of Pakistani civilians had been martyred in terrorist attacks, which it said were “planned, financed, supported and carried out” from Afghan soil under the “watch, patronage and active facilitation” of the Afghan Taliban.
“No responsible state can remain passive when its civilians and security forces are repeatedly targeted,” the statement read.
It maintained that Pakistan’s actions in response to terrorist attacks had been undertaken in exercise of self-defence, according to the principles of necessity and as a last resort.
The FO further stated that the actions were “directed only and exclusively against terrorists and their logistical support bases in Afghanistan”. The statement stressed that Pakistan’s response had been “proportionate to the level of threat” and adhered to the principles of “distinction and precaution”.
“The scale and scope of the action reflected restraint, particularly in light of the severity and frequency of terrorist attacks faced by Pakistan. Pakistan rejects any insinuations otherwise,” it said.
The FO called on the international community to hold the Afghan Taliban regime accountable for “failure to uphold obligations” under various international commitments.
“Pakistan reserves the right to take all necessary measures in order to safeguard its sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the safety and security of Pakistani nationals,” it said.
According to a UN Security Council-mandated monitoring report — covering the period from Dec 16, 2025 to June 9, 2026 — the Afghan Taliban’s continued support for TTP has contributed to a rise in the frequency and lethality of terrorist attacks in Pakistan, even as Kabul has taken some initial steps to rein in the group.
Ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been strained in the past few years as Islamabad continues to voice its concern over cross-border terrorism.
Islamabad has repeatedly urged the Taliban administration in Kabul to dismantle terrorist sanctuaries on Afghan soil, particularly those linked to the banned TTP, that are used for attacks in Pakistan. Officials say those appeals have gone unheeded.
September witnessed another bout of conflict between the two neighbours, with Pakistan carrying out calibrated airstrikes in the border region in response to terrorist attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
This was followed by drone incursions from across the border, which Islamabad said were shot down, and two further rounds of retaliatory airstrikes.
Over the weekend, the information ministry rejected former United States envoy Zalmay Khalilzad’s “baseless and misleading allegations” that Pakistan was “arming Afghans to fight the Taliban”.
It also rebutted the Afghan Taliban’s stance that it lacked the “capabilities” to fuel insecurity in other countries and criticised it for resorting to “diversionary allegations” instead of preventing the use of Afghanistan’s soil for terrorist attacks against Pakistan.
The post Pakistan rejects Afghan Taliban's claims of civilian casualties in counterterrorism operations appeared first on Dawn – Home.
