AS there is growing realization among the international community that Afghanistan has become a hotbed of terrorism posing security threats to the region and beyond, the Taliban regime is banking upon lies and propaganda in its attempt to tarnish the image of Pakistan. It is trying to shift focus away from the issue of Afghanistan becoming a safe haven for all sorts of terrorist outfits by pointing fingers towards Pakistan for brewing unrest in different regions of Afghanistan due to unpopular policies of the regime.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has done well by issuing a fact-based statement to expose propaganda of the Kabul regime. Its fact-check came in response to a statement issued by the Afghan Taliban’s Ministry of Defence, which claimed that several groups affiliated with Daesh, along with what it called elements of subversion, had crossed the Durand Line into the Kamdesh district of Nuristan with the support of Pakistani militias. The Taliban claimed their security forces had killed 28 of the alleged infiltrators and captured 32 others alive, while the rest fled back across the Durand Line. Pakistan categorically rejected allegations made by the Afghan Taliban regime linking Pakistani security forces and intelligence agencies to alleged violence in Afghanistan’s Nuristan province, calling the claims “frivolous, baseless and devoid of any truth”. In fact, what happened in Nuristan is not an isolated incident as unrest and localized resistance across Afghanistan has escalated due to Taliban’s strict societal restrictions, suppression of public dissent, hardline governance policies and inability of the rulers in Kabul to address real issues of the country despite their claim to have total grip on the entire country.
It was because of this that anti-Taliban groups -including the Afghanistan Freedom Front and the National Resistance Front -reported carrying out at least 15 targeted attacks against Taliban positions across nine provinces (including Badakhshan, Kabul, Baghlan, and Herat) within a single week in August 2026. Similarly, dissident local commanders, such as Juma Khan Fateh, have engaged in continuous localized armed resistance and clashes against Taliban forces in remote northern districts like Nusay in Badakhshan province. It is not a coincidence that in the same month, the Taliban formally approved and published the “Shurta Law,” which legally bans all public protest gatherings and demonstrations nationwide, with leadership stating that the concept of public demonstration does not exist within their governance framework. Earlier, in June 2026, Taliban security forces used live fire, whips, and sticks to violently suppress public protests in the Jebrael and Injil areas of Herat. The demonstrations erupted after authorities detained roughly 30 women for alleged dress-code violations, resulting in reported deaths, including a teenager, and numerous injuries.
There are also sectarian issues and reports about forced conversion of minority groups. Apart from all this, there is growing desperation among people of Afghanistan that instead of pursuing policies and programmes aimed at promotion of peace and security as well as economic well being of the masses, the Taliban regime is antagonizing the international community because of its continued policy of exporting terrorism to other countries in clear violation of the Doha accord. It has become one of the major issues for global isolation of Afghanistan, depriving it of the opportunities to unleash trade, economic and investment potential and optimum utilization of the mineral resources of the country. In this backdrop, the Information Ministry has aptly pointed out that instead of externalizing responsibility for its internal security challenges through fanciful allegations, the Afghan Taliban regime should take credible and verifiable action against terrorist organizations operating from its territory and fulfill its commitments that Afghan soil will not be used for terrorism against Pakistan or any other country. The presence and activities of terrorist groups of all types inside Afghanistan are well documented, including in successive reports of the United Nations and other neutral international organizations and Afghanistan should better address these and other concerns of the world community and a majority of Afghan people.
