Minister brands Kabul regime a proxy of India; Questions legitimacy of Taliban government
ISLAMABAD:
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif delivered Pakistan’s sternest warning yet to the Taliban regime on Wednesday, declaring that Islamabad would not hesitate to strike “deep into Afghanistan” if Kabul failed to rein in militants using its soil for attacks across the border.
The warning, the sharpest yet since the collapse of the Istanbul peace talks, marks a decisive hardening of Islamabad’s stance after weeks of what officials described as patience stretched thin. The last-ditch efforts, brokered by Turkiye and Qatar, buckled under Afghan evasions and obstinate refusal to guarantee that its soil would not be used for aggression, sources had earlier revealed.
“We will conduct strikes, we definitely will,” Asif told reporters at Parliament House. “If their territory is used and they violate our territory, then, if we need to go deep into Afghanistan to retaliate, we surely will.”
Asif said that while Pakistan approached the talks with sincerity, the Afghan side appeared bent on obstruction. “Kabul was not sincere at any level for any arrangement. On the directives of India and by becoming its proxy, Fitna al-Hindustan wants to leverage its position over Pakistan through Afghanistan,” he said.
“The entire leadership of Kabul is playing in the hands of India.”
According to Asif, working groups from both sides had nearly reached consensus multiple times before Afghan delegates abruptly withdrew under instructions from Kabul. “Again and again, whenever something was finalised and an agreement was drafted — this happened three or four times, I think — they contacted Kabul and a ‘no’ came from Kabul, because of which we could not reach an agreement with them,” he said.
He warned that if the Afghan leadership had “chosen the path of confrontation, then so be it”.
Asif said the Taliban negotiators had verbally admitted that the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) operated from Afghan soil but refused to put this commitment in writing. “They were agreeing with everything but were not ready to give in writing,” he said.
Asked whether TTP representatives were discussed for inclusion in future talks, Asif replied, “Even if they had said so, it would have been a total refusal from us.”
He added that even the mediators — Qatar and Turkiye — had now recognised the “futoor (infirmity)” in Kabul’s intentions.
“We made this attempt with full sincerity so that Pakistan and Afghanistan can live in peace as good neighbours. But if they have handed over their reins to Delhi, then this will be difficult,” he said. Asked whether he still saw room for reason, he said, “It can only be prayed, [but] there’s no medicine”.
Asif also questioned the very legitimacy of the Taliban government, saying it lacked international recognition and control over its own territory.
“That government does not have its writ in the entire Afghanistan. Afghanistan is practically shattered into pieces, where one or the other influential terrorist group… there is a congregation of international terrorism there,” he said.
He added that Afghanistan neither “fulfils the definition of a state” nor acts as one. “They are the ones who are involved in the killings, and they are taking financial benefits by being the rulers.”
When asked whether the situation was veering toward another Tora Bora-style confrontation, he replied, “It is definitely a possibility”.
Earlier in the day, Asif had issued a searing warning to Kabul on social media, warning that the Taliban rulers would “test Islamabad’s resolve at their own peril and doom”.
“We have borne your treachery and mockery for too long, but no more. Any terrorist attack or any suicide bombing inside Pakistan shall give you the bitter taste of such misadventures. Be rest assured and test our resolve and capabilities, if you wish so, at your own peril and doom,” he posted on X.
The minister said Pakistan entered negotiations “to give peace a chance” at the request of “brotherly countries,” but “venomous statements by certain Afghan officials clearly reflect the devious and splintered mindset of [the] Taliban regime”.
“Let me assure them that Pakistan does not require to employ even a fraction of its full arsenal to completely obliterate the Taliban regime and push them back to the caves for hiding. If they wish so, the repeat of the scenes of their rout at Tora Bora, with their tails between the legs, would surely be a spectacle to watch for the people of the region,” he wrote.
Accusing the Taliban of “blindly pushing Afghanistan into yet another conflict,” Asif said they sought to preserve their “usurped rule and war economy.”
“Despite fully knowing their inherent limitations and hollowness of their war cries, they are beating the war drums to maintain their crumbling façade. If the Afghan Taliban regime is madly hell-bent upon ruining Afghanistan and its innocent people once again, then so be it,” he added.
Referring to the oft-cited phrase “graveyard of empires,” Asif said, “Pakistan certainly doesn’t claim it to be an empire but Afghanistan is definitely a graveyard, surely for its own people. Never a graveyard of empires but certainly a playground of empires you have been throughout history”.
He warned the “war mongers amongst the Taliban regime” that Pakistan’s restraint should not be mistaken for weakness. “If the Taliban regime wants to fight us, the world will Insha Allah (God willing) see that their threats are only performative circus!” he asserted.
United Nations
Meanwhile, the United Nations expressed concern over the collapse of Pakistan-Afghanistan talks, urging both sides to avoid renewed conflict.
“Yes, it is, of course. We very much hope that even if the talks are on pause, the fighting will not renew,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said during a regular briefing at UN Headquarters in New York, according to APP.
