Pakistan rejects reports alluding to its involvement in Panjshir Valley offensive

Islamabad, September 10

Pakistan has rejected reports that it was aiding the Taliban offensive in Afghanistan’s Panjshir Valley, terming these as a “mischievous propaganda campaign”.

The Taliban said on Monday that they had seized Panjshir Valley, the last province not in their control after their blitz through Afghanistan last month.

Some reports quoted a CENTCOM source saying that the Pakistani military was assisting the Taliban offensive in Panjshir with 27 helicopters full of Pakistani Special Forces backed up by drone strikes.

Foreign Office spokesperson Asim Iftikhar in an overnight statement “categorically rejected these allegations as part of a mischievous propaganda campaign”.

“These malicious allegations were part of a desperate attempt to malign Pakistan and to mislead the international community,” read the statement.

The spokesperson reiterated Pakistan’s abiding commitment to a peaceful, stable, sovereign and prosperous Afghanistan.

The Taliban insurgents seized control of Afghanistan in mid-August, ousting the previous elected leadership which was backed by the West.

The takeover comes nearly 20 years after US forces led an invasion to topple the Taliban.

Panjshir, a rugged mountain valley, is home to between 150,000 and 200,000 people. It was a centre of resistance when Afghanistan was under Soviet occupation in the 1980s and during the Taliban’s previous period of rule, between 1996 and 2001. PTI