KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The Taliban authorities report that at least eight people, including women and children, were killed in Pakistani airstrikes in the eastern provinces of Paktika and Khost on Monday, March 18th. Pakistani authorities say the operation targeted a TTP leader who resides in Afghanistan.
The Taliban spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, claimed that as a result of the airstrikes, three women and three children were killed, and one house was destroyed in the Barmal district of Paktika province. Additionally, two women were killed, and another house collapsed in the Separa district of Khost province.
The Taliban condemned the “reckless attack” as a breach of Afghanistan’s sovereignty, emphasizing that they will not allow anyone to invade its territory. They warned that such actions could have “very [serious] consequences which will be out of Pakistan’s control.”
“The Pakistani side is saying that [militant] Abdullah Shah was targeted in the strikes but he lives on the Pakistani side. Members of the same tribe live on both sides and routinely move across the border,” Mujahid said, warning Pakistan not to deteriorate bilateral relations any further.
“The people of Pakistan and the new government should stop some army generals from the continuation of their wrong policies for the benefit of others like the last 20-year and spoiling the relationship between the two neighboring Muslim nations,” The Taliban statement said.
Threatening Islamabad, Taliban said that they have two decades of successful experience as an insurgency against the US-led military coalition that it could bring to respond to what it called aggression and invasion on its sovereignty. What the threatening statement left out was the monumental role Pakistan had in sustaining the group’s insurgency by providing shelter, training, and finances.
Describing the attack as an intelligence-based terrorist operation, the Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the country targeted terrorists affiliated with Hafiz Gul Bahadur, which along with Tahreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is responsible for multiple terrorist attacks within the country.
The ministry said in a statement that Pakistan holds great respect for the people of Afghanistan. However, it highlighted that certain elements of the Taliban are actively supporting the TTP and use them as proxies against Pakistan.
“Pakistan accords prime importance to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Afghanistan. It has, therefore, always prioritized dialogue and cooperation to confront the terrorist threat,” the ministry said.
Pakistani authorities argued that the regime in Kabul has repeatedly ignored its demands to take actions against Jihadi groups who fight against Islamabad. “We have repeatedly urged the Afghan authorities to take concrete and effective action to ensure that the Afghan soil is not used as a staging ground for terrorism against Pakistan,” the statement added.
Taliban’s consistent response to such allegations has been to deny them and say that it is not responsible for Pakistan’s internal security issues.
Meanwhile, the Taliban Ministry of Defence has claimed that, in retaliation for Pakistan’s fighter jets violating Afghanistan’s territory, they targeted Pakistan’s military installations along the “imaginary border with powerful weaponry.”
The ministry’s statement emphasized that the Taliban’s defense and security forces are ready to respond to any hostile intrusions and will protect their territorial sovereignty under all circumstances.
The Taliban Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that it has summoned the Pakistan charge d’affaires in Kabul and delivered its objection letter regarding the recent incident, emphasizing its intolerance for any assault on Afghanistan soil.
The airstrikes occurred a day after President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan pledged retaliation for the killing of seven Pakistani soldiers in an attack on a security check post in North Waziristan on Saturday.
“Pakistan has decided that whoever will enter our borders, homes or country and commit terror, we will respond to them strongly, regardless of who it is or from which country.”
In recent times, the relationship between the Taliban and Pakistan has strained largely because the Taliban has refused to neutralize the TTP and its affiliates, a militant group that has escalated its attacks against Pakistani security forces and civilians.
Asif Durrani, Pakistan’s special envoy for Afghanistan, recently claimed that his country has evidence indicating that the TTP is receiving funds from India through Afghan proxies, an allegation that Islamabad also made against the previous government in Afghanistan.
He claimed that 5,000 to 6,000 militants have taken shelter in Afghanistan. “If we include their families, then the number goes up to 70,000,” he said.
The Pakistani envoy added that it was evident that someone else was covering TTP’s expenses since the regime in Afghanistan couldn’t afford the daily upkeep costs for such a large number of people.
