Pakistan rejects reports that its nationals helped Taliban in Ghazni

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has rejected allegations that its citizens had supported the Taliban attack on Afghanistan’s Ghazni city, where hundreds have died in clashes that lasted five days.

“We have not received any evidence to back up these spurious accusations and reject these baseless allegations,” Foreign Office spokesman Muhammad Faisal said, rejecting allegations made by Afghan officials and others.

Faisal said Pakistan was fencing its border with Afghanistan with the objective of restricting cross-border movement of both “men and material” as part of its counter-terrorism efforts. He expressed hope the fencing will help achieve long-term regional stability and improve relations between the two sides.

He said the two countries, under a new framework for bilateral relations, were negotiating “a time bound” repatriation plan for Afghan refugees.

Last week, some 1,000 Taliban fighters stormed Ghazni and retreated five days later after intense fighting.

Afghan defence minister Tariq Shah Bahrami said earlier this week that the attack on Ghazni had been carried out by Taliban with the support of external elements, including Pakistanis fighters.

Several reports have said the bodies of dozens of Pakistani fighters have been sent back for their funeral.