The Foreign Office (FO) on Sunday warned that any further acts of aggression from Afghanistan would be met with an “unwavering and befitting response”.
This statement comes in the wake of intense border clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which started late on Saturday night and continued into Sunday morning. The Inter-Services Public Relations said that 23 troops were martyred and 200 Taliban and affiliated terrorists were killed when Islamabad responded to unprovoked aggression by Kabul.
After the incident, an FO statement read: “Pakistan greatly values dialogue and diplomacy and a mutually beneficial relationship with Afghanistan.
“At the same time, the Government of Pakistan continues to closely monitor the situation and would take all possible measures to safeguard its territory and the lives of its people. Any further provocations would be met with an unwavering and befitting response.”
In its statement, the FO expressed concern about the “unwarranted aggression by the Afghan Taliban, Fitna al Khawarij and Fitna al Hindustan”, which it added would destabilise neighbourly relations between the two nations.
“Pakistan, exercising its right of self-defence, not only effectively repulsed the assaults all along the border, but also inflicted heavy losses on Taliban forces and affiliated kharjis, in terms of men, material and infrastructure,” the FO stated, adding that the infrastructure was used to “plan and facilitate” acts of terror.
The FO also strongly rejected “assertions and insinuations” by Acting Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi to divert attention from the presence of terrorists in Afghanistan.
Muttaqi is currently on a visit to India, where he said in a speech that there was no terrorist organisation or group left in Afghanistan and added that a country’s problems need to be resolved internally.
“By making these baseless assertions, the Taliban regime cannot absolve itself of its responsibilities towards regional peace and stability,” the FO statement read.
“[The] continued presence of terrorist elements on Afghan soil and the freedom of activities enjoyed by them in Afghanistan are well documented in UN Monitoring Team reports.”
Noting that the fight against terrorism is a “common cause”, the FO urged Kabul to honour its commitment of not barring the use of its territory for terrorism against other countries and to play its role in achieving peace and stability in the region, rather than shifting the blame.
More to follow
