Afghanistan's Defense Ministry reported that its forces killed 28 fighters and captured 32 others, including alleged Islamic State members, during clashes in the northeastern Nuristan province on Saturday. The ministry alleged that the fighters had crossed from Pakistan with the support of Pakistani authorities, aiming to carry out acts of subversion and create insecurity. Afghanistan does not recognize its frontier with Pakistan as an international border, referring to the 2,611-kilometer (1,622-mile) boundary as the Durand Line. Pakistan's Ministry of Information rejected Afghanistan's allegations, calling them “frivolous, baseless and devoid of any truth.” It said Pakistan “categorically rejects” claims that its security forces or intelligence agencies were involved in clashes in Nuristan or elsewhere in Afghanistan. Pakistan also denied recruiting or training former Afghan security personnel or facilitating IS or other militants. The ministry said Afghanistan had provided no evidence to support its allegations, including identities, documents, communications, or forensic material. It dismissed a video circulating on social media as showing only a few unarmed people and described it as part of a “pre-planned video shoot” by Afghanistan’s Taliban government. Pakistan stated that the presence and activities of militant groups in Afghanistan had been documented in reports by the United Nations and other international organizations. It accused Kabul of trying to “manufacture a Pakistani connection” to obscure what it described as the continued presence of militants in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Pakistan’s military said its forces had killed more than 71 militants during multiple operations in southwestern Balochistan province over the previous 96 hours. The operations targeted hideouts of groups referred to as Fitna al-Khawarij and Fitna al-Hindustan, which are terms used by Islamabad for Afghanistan-based Pakistani Taliban and members of the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army (BLA). Pakistan frequently accuses Afghanistan’s Taliban government of allowing the Pakistani Taliban, formally known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), to operate from Afghan territory and carry out attacks inside Pakistan. The TTP is separate from Afghanistan’s Taliban but is allied with it. Kabul denies providing the group a safe haven and has rejected Pakistan’s accusations. The latest hostilities followed Pakistani airstrikes on Monday on sites in eastern Afghanistan that Pakistan described as militant hideouts. Pakistan said the strikes killed 28 militants, while Afghan authorities said three civilians were killed, a toll confirmed by the United Nations. The Afghan Defense Ministry said most of those involved in the alleged Nuristan plot were former members of Afghanistan’s military who served under the previous government, which was ousted when the Taliban returned to power in August 2021. According to the ministry, Pakistani intelligence agencies had brought them to Pakistan under the promise that arrangements would be made for them to obtain asylum in foreign countries and receive high salaries. It alleged that the men were instead taken to camps established by Pakistan’s military and intelligence agencies, given brief military training, and sent back into Afghanistan to create insecurity in parts of Nuristan, which borders Pakistan’s northern Chitral district. The ministry called on “all young people and former military personnel who have been deceived by Pakistani intelligence agencies” not to become further victims of what it described as enemy conspiracies.