ISLAMABAD: The Afghan Taliban regime official Qari Saeed Khosty recently accused Pakistan of targeting religious scholar Sheikh Muhammad Idrees and alleged that the APS Peshawar attack was wrongly attributed to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terror network, while simultaneously condemning violence against scholars.
The remarks have drawn attention to the repeated pattern in Taliban messaging, where public statements appear to deflect criticism even as concerns continue over terrorist groups operating from Afghan territory and enjoying support from the Taliban regime.
Khosty’s statement reflects a pattern of Taliban narrative manipulation, where accusations are used to deflect attention from their own role in hosting and enabling terrorist networks operating from Afghan soil and involved in terror attacks.
Statement by Qari Saeed Khosty reflects classic Taliban deflection, shifting blame while ignoring their own role in enabling terrorism, security analysts said.
According to analysts, the Taliban regime’s continuous support for terror groups has exposed the group as a facilitator of terrorism, providing safe havens, operational space and protection to various terror networks, including the banned TTP and other terrorist elements.
Taliban narrative seeks to shift focus away from their complicity, using propaganda to obscure their role in sustaining terror networks, analysts said.
The Taliban regime provides safe havens to the banned TTP and affiliated terrorists, who carry out terrorist attacks and then start baseless propaganda narratives to mislead the public.
“This is clear hypocrisy, protect terrorist networks on the ground, then issue condemnations to manipulate perception,” a security analyst said.
“Taliban’s so-called condemnations are pure hypocrisy, shielding terrorists on the ground while issuing statements to deflect blame,” the analyst added.
The Afghan Taliban supported terrorists of TTP and other terror groups. These terrorist groups had a documented pattern of targeting Ulema, especially those promoting the true teachings of Islam, peace and moral guidance.
“Martyrdom of Sheikh Muhammad Idrees in Charsadda is part of a wider campaign by Khwarij against religious scholars, aimed at silencing voices against violence,” a security analyst maintained.
Afghanistan, under the Taliban, has become a hub for over 20 terrorist groups, operating with protection and facilitation from the regime in Kabul.
From these terrorist sanctuaries, TTP has conducted over 600 terrorist attacks, resulting in large-scale deaths and injuries in Pakistan.
Despite this, Taliban officials like Khosty attempt to project victimhood and shift blame, exposing clear hypocrisy, analysts said.
Analysts said that the Taliban’s narrative ignores their own role in creating and sustaining this environment of violence and extremism.
Core reality, according to analysts, is that the Taliban leadership and their spokespersons are not credible actors, but part of a system that shelters terrorists, enables attacks and manipulates narratives to avoid accountability.
