KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Pakistan’s military has firmly rejected Taliban claims that the United States is using Pakistani soil to conduct drone strikes or other military operations in Afghanistan, calling the allegation “completely baseless.”
As reported by Pakistani media outlet The Express Tribune, military spokesperson Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said on Monday that Islamabad has no agreement with Washington permitting drone operations into Afghanistan and has not received any formal complaint from the Taliban.
“There is no arrangement whatsoever under which drones operate from Pakistan to Afghanistan,” Chaudhry said, adding that they have repeatedly clarified the matter publicly.
The comments follow remarks by Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid, who claimed that American drones regularly enter Afghanistan’s airspace from Pakistan. Mujahid said the group had formally asked Islamabad to prevent the use of its land and airspace for such operations.
Chaudhry dismissed those assertions and instead once again accused the Taliban of allowing militants to use Afghanistan territory to target Pakistan. He said Pakistan continues to engage in talks but warned it is prepared to act if diplomacy fails.
“We want issues to be resolved through negotiations, but if talks fail, we will resolve the problem ourselves,” Chaudhry said. “It is better that the Afghan Taliban resolve matters through peaceful talks. Otherwise, we have other ways to deal with the situation.”
Peace talks between Islamabad and the Taliban are expected to resume on Thursday in Istanbul, following earlier discussions in Doha and Turkey. Chaudhry accused the Taliban of inconsistency during negotiations, saying they “would agree to the draft and then say they couldn’t sign it yet — that they needed to make a phone call first.”
Chaudhry also argued that the absence of a “representative government” in Kabul has contributed to instability, noting that the Taliban had agreed in the Doha agreement with the US to convene a Loya Jirga to form an inclusive government — a commitment he said has not been met.
Tensions between Islamabad and the Taliban, once close allies, have escalated to unprecedented levels in recent months, including deadly border clashes in October that led to mediation efforts by Qatar and Turkey. A fragile ceasefire remains in place, but six days of talks in Istanbul ended without progress. The two sides are set to meet again in Istanbul on November 6.
