Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Wednesday issued a strongly worded warning to the Taliban rulers in Kabul, telling them that if they wished to test Islamabad’s resolve, they should do so “at your own peril and doom”.
The remarks came hours after a pre-dawn announcement by Information Minister Attaullah Tarar about the collapse of latest round of talks between the two countries in the Turkish capital that were aimed at addressing cross-border terrorism emanating from Afghan soil.
“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,” Asif posted on social media platform X.
The defence minister said that Pakistan had indulged in talks to give peace a chance on the request of brotherly countries, who were persistently being beseeched by the rulers in Kabul, however, “venomous statements by certain Afghan officials clearly reflect the devious and splintered mindset of 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.”
Asif further accused the Taliban rulers in Kabul of “blindly pushing Afghanistan into yet another conflict, just to retain its usurped rule and maintain the war economy that sustains them”.
“Despite fully knowing their inherent limitations and hollowness of their war cries, they are beating the war drums to maintain their crumbling facade. If the Afghan Taliban regime is madly hell-bent upon ruining Afghanistan and its innocent people once again, then so be it,” he said.
In his post, Asif also referred to the phrase “graveyard of empires” used for Afghanistan in connection with the historical instances of several nations failing to conquer the country.
“As far as the narrative of ‘graveyard of empires’, 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,” Asif commented.
He said the “war mongers amongst the Taliban regime, who have vested interests in the continuation of instability in the region, should know that they have probably misread our resolve and courage”.
“If the Taliban regime wants to fight us, the world will Insha Allah (God willing) see that their threats are only performative circus!”
UN expresses concern over talk failure
In a separate development, the United Nations voiced concern over the collapse of talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan, hoping that the “fighting will not renew”.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric was asked about the collapse of the negotiations and whether it was a concern for the UN.
“Yes, it is, of course. We very much hope that even if the talks are on pause, the fighting will not renew,” he told reporters at the regular noon briefing at UN Headquarters in New York, APP reported.
From border skirmishes to talk failure
Pakistan and Afghanistan saw a worsening of ties in recent days, which featured border skirmishes, counter statements and and allegations.
The hostilities began earlier this month when an attack was launched on Pakistan from Afghanistan on the night of October 11. The attack had followed an allegation from the Taliban of airstrikes by Pakistan into Afghanistan — an accusation which Islamabad has neither confirmed nor denied.
For its part, Islamabad has long demanded that Taliban stop terror groups from using its soil against Pakistan. Taliban, however, deny the allegation of allowing terrorists to operate from the Afghan soil.
Meanwhile, Pakistan continues grapple with the issue of terrorism and has suffered multiple casualties among security forces in intelligence-based operations.
After the initial skirmish on Oct 11, multiple others took place along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Meanwhile, strikes by Islamabad also targeted Gul Bahadur group camps in Afghanistan.
Eventually, the two sides came together for dialogue in Doha, which resulted in a temporary ceasefire, as well as a commitment to reconvene in Istanbul to work on mechanisms for lasting peace and stability between the two countries.
Last week, the second round of talks, which were being mediated by Turkiye and Qatar, between the two sides began in the Turkish capital.
But earlier today, Tarar announced in a post on X that the latest round of talks between Islamabad and Kabul in Istanbul “failed to bring about any workable solution”. He also asserted that Pakistan would continue to take all possible measures to protect its citizens from terrorism.
The information minister said that Pakistan had repeatedly engaged with the Afghan Taliban regarding “persistent cross-border terrorism” by India-abetted“ terrorists.
“The Afghan Taliban regime have been asked time and again to fulfil their written commitments to Pakistan and to the international community in the Doha Agreement. However, Pakistan’s fervent efforts proved futile due to the Afghan Taliban regime’s unabated support to anti-Pakistan terrorists,” Tarar said.
The statement from the information minister came hours after Asif said that an agreement was about to be reached with Kabul, but Afghan negotiators backpedalled after contacting Kabul during the negotiations.
Earlier, when the second round of talks had begun between the two sides on Oct 25, Asif had warned that failure to reach an agreement would mean “open war”.
