Accusations fly between Kabul and Islamabad: “Islamic State is infiltrating from Pakistan”

Amman. Officials from the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) stated on Sunday that their forces had killed 28 fighters in the eastern province of Nuristan, including Islamic State militants who had arrived from Pakistan. They accused Pakistani militias of supporting these fighters. Islamabad described the accusations as “futile, unfounded and devoid of any basis in truth”. There are also sharply diverging accounts circulating regarding the Pakistani attacks carried out last week on Afghan territory, against a backdrop of growing tension between the two neighbouring countries.

A joint visit by senior Turkish and Qatari security officials on 16 September, followed by a subsequent visit by the head of Turkish intelligence to neighbouring Pakistan, has fuelled speculation amongst observers about a possible strengthening of security cooperation, or whether the visit was intended to put pressure on the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The visit was followed by an attack on a Pakistani police post carried out by a group believed to be linked to the authorities in Kabul. Pakistani air raids were carried out between 3 and 4 am on 21 September in several provinces on the Afghan side of the Durand Line: these were the first since June, when dozens of people were killed. Whilst the Ministry of Information in Islamabad reported that three sites had been struck last Monday and that “28 terrorists, as well as several suicide bombers” had been killed, the Taliban-controlled Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan claimed there had been civilian casualties. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) confirmed that “at least three civilians, including a man, a woman and a girl, were killed and four others injured in what appear to be raids” in Kunar province, whilst two further sites were targeted in Paktika province. Given the lack of independent media access across Afghanistan since the Emirate took power five years ago, reports of casualties and the circumstances of the attacks remain extremely difficult to verify.

On 17 September, the Afghan journalist and geopolitical consultant Bilal Sarwary, who lives in Canada, told Il Foglio, regarding the ongoing talks and hostilities between Afghanistan and Pakistan, that “there is more to this than just militancy along the Durand Line”, referring to Pakistan’s western border, which is internationally recognised but has never been recognised by Afghanistan. “The Pakistani bombing of Kabul was an attack on Afghan sovereignty, which has deepened an already very strong resentment,” he added. Pakistan has carried out several air strikes on Kabul in recent months, including an attack on 16 March which, according to a United Nations report, is said to have caused at least “269 civilian deaths” at a drug rehabilitation centre, although, according to hospital staff, “the patients’ medical records were destroyed in the air raids” and “the actual figure could be significantly higher”. The authorities of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan have estimated the death toll at over 411.

The Pakistani embassy in Afghanistan had claimed at the time that the attacks had been “directed exclusively against terrorist and military infrastructure. Among the targets struck were drone depots and technical support facilities, as well as ammunition depots, used by the Afghan Taliban to carry out attacks against innocent Pakistani civilians’, emphasising that ‘no hospitals, drug rehabilitation centres or civilian facilities were targeted’.

“Pakistan has helped create a Frankenstein’s monster through decades of support for the Taliban,” said Sarwary, who left his country in 2021 after twenty years of reporting on the ground. “Afghan families should not have to pay the price. Turkey and Qatar have open channels with both sides, but any mediation must address Pakistan’s aggression alongside the issue of the Durand Line, prioritising the lives of civilians.”

The alert issued by Islamabad on 19 September came immediately after a series of deadly attacks carried out on Pakistani soil by armed factions linked to the Afghan Taliban. An attack carried out on 18 September during Friday prayers against a mosque within a police compound killed at least 31 people, including 16 officers. Responsibility for the attack was claimed by Ittehad-ul Mujahideen Pakistan (IMP), an alliance led by Hafiz Gul Bahadur and linked to Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The Afghan authorities deny allowing the TTP to operate from Afghan territory. However, according to a UN report published in August, earlier this year, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan allegedly “transferred around 2,000 TTP fighters, along with their families, from the Pakistani border into Afghanistan”, and the Taliban leader reportedly “warned the TTP leadership” to “cease attacks against Pakistan, or risk losing the Taliban’s support”. Pakistan’s UN envoy, Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, stated last week that over 4,700 Pakistani citizens had been killed in three years in militant attacks originating from Afghanistan. Turkey and Qatar have long been engaged in mediation efforts between Afghanistan and Pakistan. On Friday, however, the Taliban spokesperson reportedly welcomed a “greater role” for Saudi Arabia in mediating between the two countries.