 "This trip by Afghanistan’s Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi is the first high-level visit since the Taliban took power in 2021. AFP")
Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi on Monday said that all of Afghanistan’s neighbours are happy except for Pakistan.
“We don’t want conflict with anyone. There is peace in Afghanistan. Pakistan is not our only neighbour. We have five other neighbours and all of them are happy with us,” said Muttaqi, according to ANI.
Last week, the Taliban forces of Afghanistan and Pakistani forces clashed for days along their disputed border. The clashes left dozens dead and wounded.
Previously, Muttaqi, who is on a visit to India, warned Pakistan on Sunday that the Taliban regime has “other options” if Pakistan “does not want peace.”
While tensions had been brewing between the Taliban and Pakistan for a long time, the immediate trigger for last week’s intense clashes along the border were explosions in Kabul on Thursday. The Taliban said those explosions were a result of Pakistani airstrikes.
The Taliban then launched attacks on Pakistani forces across the Durand Line, the line that divides Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Taliban have long rejected Durand Line as the two countries’ border.
In the border clashes, 58 Pakistani soldiers were killed, 30 were wounded, and 20 Pakistani security outposts were destroyed, said Taliban Spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid, according to Tolo News.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsMujahid further said that nine Afghan soldiers were also killed and 16 others were wounded.
The Taliban-Pakistan border clashes continued until Saturday night and ended after Qatar and Saudi Arabia intervened. While Qatar wields influence over the Taliban, who ran their political office in Qatari capital Doha for years during their years of insurgency, and Pakistan wields influence over Pakistan that depends considerably on Saudi economic largesse.