Pakistan denies UN report on civilian casualties in Afghanistan, calls it 'baseless'

Pakistan’s military has rejected a UN report documenting hundreds of civilian casualties from cross-border fighting with Afghanistan, saying its forces targeted only Pakistani Taliban hideouts and other militant infrastructure and carried out the strikes in self-defence. Pakistan’s military spokesman Lt Gen Ahmad Sharif Chaudhry on Friday dismissed the findings as “baseless” and said Pakistani forces had not deliberately targeted civilians during operations against the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which Islamabad accuses of carrying out attacks from bases in Afghanistan. Chaudhry said Pakistan’s military had targeted “hideouts and infrastructure” used by the TTP and that those killed in the strikes were militants. He said the operations were necessary to protect people in Pakistan from attacks originating across the border. The comments came after the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) documented 499 civilians killed and 1,216 injured in cross-border armed violence between Afghanistan and Pakistan from October 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026.

The UNAMA paper covering the latest quarter recorded 399 civilian casualties between April 1 and June 30 — 57 deaths and 342 injuries. Among them were 40 women and 112 children, including 26 children who were killed. UNAMA said the leading causes of civilian harm were airstrikes and ground engagements, and attributed all the cross-border civilian casualties it documented during the period to Pakistani security forces. The heaviest toll in the April-June period came from Pakistani airstrikes on June 28 in Paktya, Paktika and Kunar provinces, according to UNAMA. The strikes killed 28 civilians and injured 189 others, the report said. In one incident in Paktya's Chamkani district, UNAMA said a Pakistani airstrike hit a three-storey civilian residence. Residents gathered to rescue people trapped beneath the rubble, but a second airstrike struck the same location about 20 minutes later, while rescue efforts were under way.

Chaudhry questioned the UN and Amnesty International reports, arguing that they relied heavily on accounts from Afghans despite what he described as restrictions on freedom of expression under Taliban rule. He also accused the Taliban government of allowing militant groups to operate from Afghan territory and said rights organisations had failed to adequately document attacks carried out against Pakistan. “These are double standards,” Chaudhry said, questioning how often rights groups had documented civilian casualties from US-led coalition airstrikes during the earlier war in Afghanistan.

Chaudhry said Pakistan had recorded 3,145 terrorism incidents since January and that 2,084 militants had been killed, while 819 Pakistanis, including soldiers, police personnel and civilians, had died. He said Pakistani security forces had conducted 40,348 intelligence-based operations across the country during the same period. According to Chaudhry, Afghanistan-based militants had also carried out 28 suicide attacks in Pakistan since January. He alleged that many of those involved were Afghan nationals or people linked to Afghan security structures, and claimed some suicide bombers had been recruited from among drug users. Pakistan has vowed to continue its counterterrorism campaign, with Chaudhry saying the military would maintain operations against the TTP and affiliated groups. “We will continue these operations,” he said, adding that Pakistan was winning the fight against terrorism and would, “God willing”, win.