Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has rejected the Taliban’s claim about the country’s role in the recent clashes in Nuristan province, calling it “absurd and baseless.”

The ministry said on Sunday, September 27 (Mizan 5), that Pakistan rejects any involvement of its security forces or intelligence agencies in Afghanistan’s internal conflicts, including training and recruiting former security forces or supporting ISIS.

The ministry also said that “not even a single piece of evidence” has been provided to prove these claims, and that the video released by the Taliban, according to the ministry, shows unarmed individuals and a pre-staged scene.

In response, the Taliban’s Ministry of Defense has claimed that groups of individuals affiliated with ISIS and former government military personnel, with the support of Pakistani militias, have entered Nuristan from across the Durand Line.

The Taliban have also claimed that a number of former government security forces, after being transferred to Pakistan, received military training and were sent to Nuristan to create insecurity in Afghanistan — a claim Islamabad has rejected.

This comes as, simultaneously, the Afghanistan Freedom Front has announced that in clashes with the Taliban in Nuristan, 37 Taliban members were killed and 24 others wounded, and some checkpoints and areas have also been captured by this front.