Taliban Rejects Pakistan’s Assertion That Jaish Chief Masood Azhar Is In Afghanistan

The Taliban regime has officially rejected repeated assertions from Pakistan claiming that Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) founder Masood Azhar is currently taking refuge within Afghan borders. A senior official from the Afghan Foreign Ministry confirmed that the United Nations-designated global terrorist is not present in the country. In a formal statement, authorities in Kabul reiterated their diplomatic stance, emphasizing that Afghan territory will not be permitted to be used for hostile activities against any other nation.

This diplomatic denial arrives as Pakistan continues to face heavy international scrutiny regarding its counter-terrorism commitments and the handling of militant leadership. Islamabad has long asserted that Azhar successfully evaded local law enforcement by crossing the Durand Line into Afghanistan in May 2019. Pakistani authorities have continuously maintained that they are unable to execute an arrest warrant for the militant leader simply because he is no longer physically located within their jurisdiction.

Azhar remains one of India's most-wanted terrorists, accused of masterminding several devastating attacks on Indian soil. His alleged operational portfolio includes orchestrating the 2001 Indian Parliament attack, the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the 2016 Pathankot airbase siege, and the 2019 Pulwama suicide bombing. Due to his extensive history of directing cross-border militancy, the UN Security Council officially designated him a global terrorist in May 2019.

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The ongoing narrative surrounding Azhar's whereabouts is deeply intertwined with Pakistan's historical standing with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The global watchdog placed Pakistan on its "grey list" from 2018 to 2022, citing significant structural deficiencies in the country's framework to combat money laundering and terror financing. Chief among the watchdog's concerns was Islamabad's historical failure to curb the financial networks of groups like JeM and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

To secure its eventual removal from the FATF grey list in 2022, Pakistan implemented a series of mandatory legal and law enforcement reforms. These actions included legally outlawing JeM and LeT, freezing affiliated assets, and prosecuting high-profile militant leaders—leading to Azhar being convicted in absentia by a Pakistani court in 2021. While Pakistan successfully exited the grey list, regional monitors like the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) continue to review the efficacy of its counter-terror framework, keeping the pressure on Azhar's unresolved status.

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