Defence minister warns Afghanistan of \u2018open war\u2019 if Kabul fails to act against terrorists
\n ISLAMABAD
\nDefence Minister Khawaja Asif on Wednesday warned Afghanistan that if Kabul failed to stop harbouring terrorists, Pakistan would respond in the same way it had against India last year.
\nAddressing the National Assembly, Asif said: \u201cIf they are not ready, then what we did with Delhi, we will do the same with Kabul.\u201d The minister asserted that Afghanistan had effectively become an instrument of Indian policy.
\n\u201cAt this time, Afghanistan has become India\u2019s proxy,\u201d he said, adding: \u201cKabul is fighting a Hindutva war against us,\u201d and that \u201cthere is no difference between Delhi and Kabul at this time,\u201d although Pakistan sincerely wished otherwise.
\nAsif said Pakistan had repeatedly attempted to engage Afghanistan through diplomatic channels, including via Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, but those efforts had failed to yield results. \u201cIn negotiations in Qatar, Afghanistan agreed to everything but later refused to give guarantees,\u201d he said, adding that Kabul was willing to agree verbally but not in writing.
\nHe said Pakistan\u2019s primary demand was a written commitment from Kabul ensuring that Afghan territory would not be used to launch attacks against Pakistan and that terrorists operating there would be expelled.
\n\u201cThe Kabul government is not willing to guarantee that its territory will not be used for attacks against Pakistan,\u201d he said. \u201cAfghanistan is not willing to expel terrorists from its territory. Afghanistan is not willing to stop terrorists either.\u201d
\nThe minister added that Pakistan remained open to talks if Kabul provided written assurances against terrorism.
\nReferring to a recent attack in Bannu, Asif said many people had been martyred and that the Pakistan Army continued to make sacrifices. \u201cWe are being forced into war because of this situation,\u201d he said, adding that following India\u2019s defeat last year, New Delhi was now acting through Afghanistan.
\nOn the diplomatic front, Asif said backchannel efforts through a third country were still ongoing, though he declined to provide further details. \u201cTalks are still ongoing through a third country, but I cannot say much at this stage,\u201d he said.
\nPakistan remains embroiled in ongoing clashes with Afghanistan since February 2026. Operation Ghazab Lil Haq was launched following clashes along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, after Afghan Taliban forces fired on multiple locations, prompting swift military action by Pakistan.
\nThe neighbouring countries have been engaged in escalating hostilities along the frontier since then. The clashes intensified after Afghanistan launched a border offensive in response to Pakistani air strikes targeting terrorist positions.
\nA temporary pause in the operation was assumed in deference to Eidul Fitr and requests from Islamic countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkiye. The pause, effective from midnight on March 18-19, 2026, ran until March 23-24, 2026.
\nHowever, the operation then resumed in March and since then, the Pakistan Army has continued to respond to unprovoked aggression by the Taliban and Fitna al-Khawarij; a term used for terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Defence minister warns Afghanistan of \u2018open war\u2019 if Kabul fails to act against terrorists ISLAMABAD Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Wednesday warned Afghanistan that if Kabul failed to stop harbouring terrorists, Pakistan would respond in the same way it had against India last year. Addressing the National Assembly, Asif said: \u201cIf they are not ready, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":546308,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-546285","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n