Don't want 'armed conflict' with Afghanistan, says Pakistan Defence minister days after air strikes in Khost and Paktika

Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has said Islamabad does not want an “armed conflict” with Afghanistan, days after Pakistani air force jets carried out air strikes against terrorists in the border regions of Khost and Paktika inside the neighbouring country.

“Force is the last resort. We do not want to have an armed conflict with Afghanistan, he said, warning that Pakistan could block the corridor it provided to Afghanistan for trade with India.

“A message needed to be sent that this [cross-border terrorism] has grown too much,” Asif said in an interview with Voice of America published on Wednesday, according to the Dawn newspaper.

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Pakistan wanted to convey to the Afghan interim government in Kabul that we cannot continue like this, he said while commenting on the Pakistani airstrikes.

On Monday, Pakistan carried out intelligence-based operations targeting Tehreek-e-Taliban’s Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group which is responsible for the March 16 attack in Mir Ali, North Waziristan and multiple other terrorist attacks in the country.

Islamabad’s action came following a deadly attack on Pakistani forces which resulted in the killing of seven soldiers including a Lieutenant Colonel and a Captain.

Asif warned that Islamabad could block the corridor it provided to Afghanistan for trade with India. The defence minister asserted that Pakistan had the right to stop facilitating Kabul if it failed to curb anti-Pakistan terrorists operating on Afghan soil.

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If Afghanistan treats us like an enemy, then why should we give them a trade corridor? he asked.

Pakistan has repeatedly called on the Afghan interim government to prevent its soil from being used against Pakistan by TTP and other militant organisations a claim denied by Kabul.

Recalling the February 2023 visit to Kabul by a high-level delegation led by him, Asif said he had told the Taliban ministers to not let banned militant Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan’s (TTP) past favours tie Kabul’s hands.

If they [TTP] have done you a favour and you’re grateful to them, then control them. Don’t let them start a war with us while living in your country, and you become their ally, Voice of America quoted him as saying.

If they can harm us, then we’ll be forced to [retaliate], he said, expressing hope that Afghanistan would rein in the TTP.

Asif alleged that Kabul was letting the TTP operate against Pakistan in a bid to prevent its members from joining the militant Islamic State group’s local chapter, known as the IS-Khorasan chapter.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif asserted that his government will not tolerate any acts of cross-border terrorism and that his country would like to exist in peace with all its neighbours.

Addressing the first meeting of the apex committee a top official civil-military body tasked to tackle militancy since the new government came to power earlier in the month, Shehbaz said that Pakistan would like to have peace with all neighbours.

We want to exist in a very peaceful environment with our neighbouring brothers do trade, commerce and expand our relations but unfortunately, if a neighbour’s land is used for terrorism, this is intolerable he stated.

The premier also hoped that our neighbouring country will carefully consider my invitation.

There has been an uptick in the incidents of terrorism in Pakistan since the Taliban took over the government in Kabul in 2021, dashing hopes in Islamabad that a friendly government in Afghanistan would help to tackle militancy.

According to an annual security report issued by the Centre for Research and Security Studies, a think tank, Pakistan witnessed 1,524 violence-related fatalities and 1,463 injuries from 789 terror attacks and counter-terror operations in 2023 marking a six-year high record.