ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif has cast doubt over Islamabad’s ceasefire with Afghanistan after heavy cross-border clashes between the neighbors in recent days, accusing Kabul of fighting India’s “proxy war.”
Asif’s remarks came shortly after Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed to a 48-hour-long ceasefire on Wednesday after airstrikes and ground fighting ramped up tensions between the South Asian neighbors, leaving more than a dozen civilians dead and 100 wounded. The fighting was the worst between them since the Afghan Taliban seized power in Kabul in 2021.
The latest skirmishes coincided with Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi’s first visit to Pakistan’s arch-rival, India, during which New Delhi said it would reopen its Kabul embassy and the Afghan Taliban said it would send its diplomats to India.
“I have my doubts that this [ceasefire] will hold, because the Taliban, as I have told you, right now all their decisions are being sponsored by Delhi,” Asif told a private news channel on Wednesday night.
“Muttaqi sahib has been sitting there [in India] for a week and has now returned, what plan he has brought, so, I think that Kabul is currently fighting Delhi’s proxy war.”
Asif said Pakistan would respond positively to any constructive dialogue, but it would not tolerate ceasefire violations or attacks on its territory.
“We have the capability, and we will attack them, god willing, if they escalate or widen the radius of this war,” he said.
There was no immediate response from New Delhi or Kabul to Asif’s remarks.
Earlier on Wednesday, Pakistan carried out an airstrike on the Afghan border province of Kandahar and hit the town of Spin Boldak, officials in both countries said.
Pakistani security officials said the airstrike had targeted a brigade of Afghan Taliban troops and that dozens were killed. Enayatullah Khowarazmi, Afghanistan’s defense ministry spokesperson, said residential areas of Spin Boldak were hit.
Pakistan carried out another airstrike in Kabul, the officials said. It was not clear what the target of the strike was in Kabul.
Last weekend, Pakistan said 23 of its soldiers were killed in cross-border fighting while Afghan authorities claimed to have killed 58 Pakistani troops and lost 9 of their own.
Relations between Islamabad and Kabul have sharply deteriorated in recent years, with Pakistan accusing the Afghan Taliban of sheltering fighters from the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and allowing them to stage cross-border attacks from Afghan soil. Kabul denies the allegation, saying it does not permit its territory to be used against other countries.
With inputs from Reuters
