Taliban rejects Pakistan’s claim that Masood Azhar is in Afghanistan

The Taliban administration has rejected Pakistan’s repeated assertion that Jaish-e-Mohammed founder Masood Azhar is hiding in Afghanistan, with a senior Afghan foreign ministry official maintaining that the militant leader is not present in the country.

Kabul also reiterated that it would not allow Afghan territory to be used for activities directed against another nation.

Pakistan has consistently claimed that Azhar fled across the Durand Line into Afghanistan in May 2019 and has remained there since. The assertion has come under renewed attention as Islamabad faces scrutiny over its compliance with international commitments to combat terrorism financing.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a Paris-based global watchdog, is expected to examine Pakistan’s counter-terrorism measures at its forthcoming plenary meeting.

Azhar, who was designated a global terrorist by the United Nations Security Council in May 2019, is wanted in India in connection with several terrorist attacks, including the 2001 Parliament attack, the 2016 assault on the Pathankot airbase and the 2019 Pulwama bombing.

Pakistan remained on the FATF’s grey list from 2018 to 2022 over shortcomings in its systems for combating money laundering and terrorism financing.

According to people tracking the FATF process, the concerns included Islamabad’s failure to disrupt financing linked to Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba, as well as weaknesses in implementing financial sanctions against individuals designated by the United Nations.

To secure its removal from the grey list, Pakistan introduced several measures, including banning the two organisations and their affiliated groups and prosecuting members of their leadership.

A Pakistani court convicted Azhar in absentia in 2021. However, Islamabad has not arrested him, maintaining that he is no longer in the country.

Pakistan was removed from the grey list in 2022 on the understanding that the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering would continue monitoring its progress on specific counter-terrorism commitments. Its efforts to locate and arrest Azhar reportedly remain among the matters under review.

People familiar with the monitoring process alleged that Pakistan had retreated from some of the assurances it gave to the FATF after international pressure eased following its removal from the grey list.

The Taliban had also rejected Pakistan’s claim in September 2022, saying Azhar was neither in Afghanistan nor had Islamabad formally communicated with Kabul about his alleged presence there.

With PTI inputs