The fighting took place Saturday in Kamdesh district, near Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan. Kabul said the group included members of Islamic State and accused Pakistani authorities of supporting the fighters.

Pakistan rejected the accusations. Its Information Ministry said Pakistani security forces and intelligence agencies had no role in the fighting and denied recruiting, training or assisting Islamic State or other armed groups for operations in Afghanistan.

The competing accounts could not be independently verified.

Fighting reported in Nuristan

Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry said the group entered Kamdesh with plans to carry out attacks and create insecurity.

The ministry also alleged that many of the fighters were former Afghan security personnel who served under the government that was removed when the Taliban returned to power in August 2021.

According to the Afghan account, some former security personnel were taken to Pakistan after being promised assistance and possible resettlement. Kabul alleged that they were instead given military training and later sent back toward Nuristan.

Pakistan rejected those claims and said Afghanistan had provided no evidence showing that its military or intelligence agencies had recruited or trained the former Afghan personnel. Islamabad also disputed material circulated on social media that Kabul presented in support of its allegations.

Conflicting accounts of the casualties

Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry said 28 fighters were killed and 32 others were captured.

The Associated Press reported the same figures, citing the Afghan ministry.

Reuters, however, reported that Afghanistan said 28 fighters were killed and 32 were wounded. Reuters said it could not independently verify the ministry’s account or the casualty figures.

The difference highlights the limited independent information available from the remote area.

Afghan authorities did not provide a separate figure for casualties among their own forces in the statements cited in the reporting.

Pakistan denies involvement

Pakistan’s Information Ministry described Afghanistan’s allegations as “frivolous, baseless and devoid of any truth.”

Islamabad denied that its military or intelligence agencies were involved in the Nuristan fighting. It also rejected claims that Pakistani authorities recruited or trained former Afghan security personnel or facilitated Islamic State or other militant groups.

Pakistan instead accused Kabul of failing to act against militant organizations operating from Afghan territory. Islamabad has repeatedly accused the Taliban government of allowing the Pakistani Taliban, or TTP, to operate from Afghanistan and carry out attacks inside Pakistan.

Kabul has denied providing the TTP with a safe haven.

The TTP is a separate organization from the Afghan Taliban, although the two have longstanding ties.

Clash follows wider escalation

The Nuristan fighting comes as relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan have deteriorated further.

On September 21, Pakistan carried out airstrikes in eastern Afghanistan, saying it was targeting militant hideouts. Pakistan said 28 militants were killed.

Afghan authorities reported that three civilians were killed and four were injured. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, or UNAMA, confirmed those civilian casualties in Kunar province.

Pakistan conducted another series of strikes on September 24, saying it targeted locations in Afghanistan linked to drone attacks launched toward Pakistan. Afghan officials reported strikes in areas including Khost and Kandahar.

The two governments have continued to exchange accusations over militant activity and cross-border attacks, with Islamabad demanding that Kabul prevent attacks from Afghan territory and Kabul rejecting the allegations.

The Nuristan clash adds another armed confrontation to the deteriorating security relationship.

Border dispute adds to the tensions

Nuristan is in Afghanistan’s mountainous northeast, along the frontier with Pakistan.

The two countries share a roughly 2,611-kilometer boundary commonly known as the Durand Line. Afghanistan’s Taliban government does not recognize the line as an international border.

The difficult terrain also makes independent verification of battlefield claims challenging.

That leaves important questions about the fighting — including the exact number of casualties, the identities of the fighters and the circumstances that led to the clash — dependent largely on statements from the parties involved.

For now, Afghanistan says its forces killed 28 fighters and captured 32 others.

Pakistan denies that its security forces or intelligence agencies played any role in sending or supporting the group.

Neither side’s broader account has been independently established.

Reporting Credit: Afghanistan Ministry of Defense — claims concerning the Nuristan operation, casualties and alleged cross-border involvement; Pakistan Ministry of Information and Broadcasting — denial of Pakistani military or intelligence involvement and related counterclaims; United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan — independently documented civilian casualties from the September 21 Pakistani airstrikes.

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