‘Malicious allegations’: Pakistan on reports it helped Taliban in Panjshir

The Pakistan military assisted the Taliban offensive in Panjshir with a minimum of 27 helicopters crammed with Pakistan Special Forces and also backed the group by drone strikes against the resistance forces, press agency PTI reported citing us Central Command.

Pakistan rejected reports that said it helped the Taliban offensive against resistance forces in Afghanistan’s Panjshir valley as a “mischievous propaganda campaign”. Pakistan foreign spokesperson Asim Iftikhar issued a press release and “categorically rejected these allegations as a part of a mischievous propaganda campaign.” “These malicious allegations were a part of a desperate plan to malign Pakistan and to mislead the international community,” he said within the statement.

Iftikhar reiterated that Pakistan is committed to a peaceful and stable Afghanistan.

The Pakistan military assisted the Taliban offensive in Panjshir with a minimum of 27 helicopters crammed with Pakistan Special Forces and also backed the group by drone strikes against the resistance forces, press agency PTI reported citing us Central Command. Pakistan spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence’s chief general officer Faiz Hameed also visited Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar each day before the ‘fall’ of Panjshir, though each side claim that discussions were held regarding the refugee crisis and closed borders at Spin Boldak.

The Taliban said on Monday they seized Panjshir, one among the provinces which wasn’t in their control, after an extended drawn fight with the resistance front. Panjshir resistance fighters later, however, claimed that the Taliban haven’t ‘completely’ captured Panjshir. The National Resistance Front (NRF) leader Ahmad Massoud said that the senior leaders are safe and also involved a “national uprising”.

Panjshir was a centre of resistance during the Soviet occupation within the 1980s and through the Taliban’s previous period of rule, between 1996 and 2001 and therefore the rugged mountain valley is home to a minimum of 200,000 citizens.

Meanwhile, Pakistan on Friday said that the international community features a ‘collective responsibility’ to assist Afghanistan. The nation’s secretary of state Shah Mahmood Qureshi said it sent a plane carrying food and medicines to Kabul and can also send more aid within the future. He also said that Pakistan wants the international community to unfreeze Afghanistan’s assets in order that the state led by the Taliban can use the cash to revive the economy.