Info ministry dismisses Afghan claims of destroying Pakistani post near border in Balochistan as 'fake'

The information ministry dismissed on Friday claims by the Afghan defence ministry of a Pakistani post having been destroyed near the Spin Boldak border — the frontier between Balochistan and Kandahar — as “fake and fabricated”. The information ministry also took note of Afghan claims that there had been no casualties among the Afghan forces in the latest episode of clash between the two sides. “The claim is fake and fabricated. As per actual facts, an attempted Afghan aggression in the Gulistan sector was thwarted on night between Sept 24 and Sept 25, and during the process and subsequent heavy punishment inflicted on opposing Taliban posts, at least 13 Afghan Taliban personnel were killed and several injured,” the information ministry said in a post on X. It also shared some visuals in the post, which the ministry said were of the incident. The incident, it added, had already been “widely covered by media and circulated extensively across social media, providing visual evidence of the border engagement and punishment inflicted on the Afghan Taliban after their cowardly attack”. “The […] Afghan ministry’s attempt is no surprise since the Taliban are habitual liars having no moral and reputational standing,” it added. The latest clash has taken place amid an uptick in tensions at the Pak-Afghan border. Pakistan conducted precision aerial and drone strikes in 10 locations across Afghanistan on Thursday in retaliation for drones launched from the neighbouring country a day earlier. The response came after eight drones, launched from Afghanistan, entered Pakistani airspace near the Torkham border and Kohat on Wednesday. Security sources said they were subsequently shot down. It was also reported that the Afghan Taliban engaged in unprovoked firing the night before near Kurram as security forces foiled an attempt by terrorists to cross into Pakistan. On Sept 21, Pakistan, in response to recent terrorist attacks in KP, conducted “calibrated” a