Analysts slam unverified foreign media reports linking Pakistan to Afghan clashes, highlight double standards

ISLAMABAD (APP): Defense analysts and regional security experts have rebutted recent reports published by international news outlets, dismissing their unverified reliance on the Afghan Taliban regime’s allegations regarding recent fighting in Kunar and Nuristan provinces.

Experts have termed the attempt by Reuters and other media outlets in their report to link Pakistan to the internal clashes as completely baseless, noting that it glaringly ignores verifiable ground realities and the ongoing domestic turmoil within Afghanistan.

They pointed out severe discrepancies in the narrative promoted by the Taliban Ministry of Defense. They emphasized that visual evidence circulated on social media by the Afghan Taliban themselves clearly indicates that the individuals apprehended or killed in the rugged mountainous regions were local Afghan nationals.

“The physical appearance, neat and clean attire, and diverse traditional clothing of these individuals starkly contradict the profile of active combatants operating in harsh, remote terrains, especially during the cold weather when heavy warm gear is essential,” an expert noted.

Analysts suggested that these individuals may have been prisoners executed in detention or local civilians caught up in internal violence, stressing that the Taliban regime has failed to provide credible evidence establishing any Pakistani nationality or combatant status.

Experts further criticized the double standards reflected in international reporting, highlighting a glaring bias in coverage. They pointed out that while severe cross-border terrorism continues to emanate from Afghan soil—resulting in 1,327 Pakistani civilian and security personnel martyred and 2,484 injured in 2026 alone—such heavy human costs and concrete evidence of anti-Pakistan terrorist infrastructure receive little to no prominence in foreign media.

Furthermore, analysts underscored that the ongoing conflict in Badakhshan, Nuristan, and parts of Kunar is fundamentally domestic, driven by internal resistance against the Kandahari Taliban’s aggressive exploitation of local mines, minerals, and resources.

With groups like ISIS, AFF, NRF, AUF, and local factions actively opposing the regime’s non-native forces since July, experts stressed that attempting to scapegoat Pakistan for Afghanistan’s internal governance failures and resource disputes is a malicious distortion of facts.