The Taliban government has dismissed Pakistan’s repeated claims that Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) founder Masood Azhar is operating from Afghanistan, with a senior Afghan Foreign Ministry official confirming that the UN-designated terrorist is not in the country.
Kabul also reiterated that Afghan territory would not be used against any other country, PTI reported.
Islamabad has long maintained that Azhar fled to Afghanistan, particularly amid international pressure on Pakistan to crack down on terror groups and their leadership.
The development comes as Pakistan faces scrutiny over its counter-terror financing and anti-money laundering measures. The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is set to review Pakistan’s efforts at its upcoming plenary.
Azhar remains wanted in India in connection with several major terror attacks, including the 2001 Parliament attack, the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the 2016 Pathankot airbase attack and the 2019 Pulwama bombing. He was designated a global terrorist by the UN Security Council in May 2019.
Pakistan was placed on the FATF grey list between 2018 and 2022 over deficiencies in its anti-money laundering and counter-terror financing framework. Among the concerns raised during the period were inadequate action against terror financing networks linked to groups such as JeM and Lashkar-e-Taiba, as well as weak implementation of targeted financial sanctions against UN-designated terrorists.
To secure its removal from the grey list, Pakistan was required to take several measures, including prosecuting leaders of designated terror groups and their affiliates.
Azhar was convicted in absentia by a Pakistani court in 2021. However, Pakistan has maintained that it cannot arrest him because he is no longer in the country.
After Pakistan exited the FATF grey list in 2022, the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) continued to monitor aspects of its compliance with international standards. Pakistan's efforts to locate and arrest Azhar have remained an issue of scrutiny, according to people familiar with the matter.
They said Pakistan had backslid on some of the assurances it had given to secure removal from the grey list, with reduced international scrutiny allowing Islamabad to ease pressure on terror groups.
Pakistan has claimed that Azhar crossed the Durand Line into Afghanistan in May 2019 and has remained at large since then.
The Taliban had previously rejected similar claims in September 2022, with its spokesperson saying Azhar was not in Afghanistan and that Pakistan had not formally communicated with Kabul about his alleged presence there.
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