Afghanistan | Pakistan

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan yesterday rebuked India for consistently playing the role of a spoiler in Afghanistan and urged it to cease its policy of supporting terrorism from Afghan soil.

WASHINGTON: During a heated debate on Afghanistan at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Monday, Pakistan lambasted India’s criticism of cross-border strikes, accusing Delhi of complicity in the terror threat at the western border. Pakistan’s Permanent Representative Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad exchanged strong words with his Indian and Afghan counterparts after the former accused Islamabad of “flagrant violations of international law” during the Pak-Afghan conflict. During the session, India’s Permanent Representative Parvathaneni Harish said his country “reiterates UNSG’s deep concern at civilian casualties caused by cross-border violence and strongly condemns airstrikes which are flagrant violations of international law, UN Charter and state sovereignty”. India also expressed “grave concern on ‘trade and transit terrorism’” and said “these vulnerabilities of Land-Locked Developing Countries should not be weaponised”. India a ‘spoiler’ in Afghanistan: Pak envoy Ambassador Ahmad, following the r...

WASHINGTON: The United States on Monday designated Afghanistan as a ‘State Sponsor of Wrongful Detention’, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio accusing the Taliban of using hostage-taking as leverage against Washington. Earlier, in February, Iran was also designated a ‘State Sponsor of Wrongful Detention’. The announcement came as Washington sharpened its criticism of Taliban policies at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), where US Ambassador Mike Waltz questioned continued international engagement and funding provided to Afghanistan. Rubio, in a statement issued on Monday evening, said: “Today, I am designating Afghanistan as a State Sponsor of Wrongful Detention.” He warned Americans against travel to Afghanistan, saying: “It is not safe for Americans to travel to Afghanistan because the Taliban continues to unjustly detain our fellow Americans and other foreign nationals.” He alleged that the Taliban “continue to use terrorist tactics, kidnapping individuals for ransom or to seek policy concessions...

Islamabad - Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar said on Monday that Pakistan is conducting operations against militant hideouts inside Afghanistan based on accurate intelligence information.

Federal Minister for Information Ataullah Tarar has stated that Pakistan’s recent operations inside Afghanistan were strictly aimed at militant hideouts and did not involve attacks on civilian locations.

Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir on Wednesday said that peace between Pakistan and Afghanistan could only prevail if the Taliban regime “renounced their support for terrorism and terrorist organisations”. According to a statement by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), CDF Munir made the remarks as he visited Wana in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s South Waziristan to review the prevailing security situation and operational preparedness along the Western border. “He reiterated that peace could only prevail between both sides if the Afghan Taliban renounced their support for terrorism and terrorist organisations,” the statement said. It said that CDF Munir laid a floral wreath at the martyrs’ monument to pay homage to those who had rendered supreme sacrifices in defence of the motherland. “He offered fateha and reaffirmed that the sacrifices of shuhada remain the cornerstone of Pakistan’s security and resilience,” it added. During the visit, CDF Munir was given a comprehensive b...

Amid escalating tensions in the Middle East, air routes passing through Pakistan and Afghanistan have emerged as some of the busiest aviation corridors in the world, according to flight tracking data.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Saturday rejected claims about a Pakistani jet being shot down in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar and the pilot being captured. The ministry’s fact check account on X attributed the claims to Afghan Taliban officials that were “amplified by Indian media”. “The Ministry of Defence of the so-called Islamic Emirate claimed that Afghan forces shot down a Pakistani fighter jet in Nangarhar and captured its pilot alive. The claim was widely amplified by Indian media and Afghan propaganda outlets,” it said. The ministry further said Pakistan’s armed forces had not reported any aircraft loss and stated that no “independent international media outlet or defence monitoring agency” had verified the claim. “The story relies solely on statements from Afghan officials and selective media amplification,” it said. It further stated that there was no visual proof of crash debris, the wreckage site or the captured pilot. “No geolocated imagery or satellite evidence supports the claim,” i...

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan’s valiant defence forces carried out precise operations, inflicting heavy losses on terrorist outfits and targeting their logistical support bases in Afghanistan, said Foreign Office Spokesperson here on Friday.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday visited General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, where the military leadership gave him a “detailed briefing” on the situation between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The development comes after Pakistan’s security forces launched an operation, dubbed Ghazab lil-Haq, against the Afghan Taliban after it launched unprovoked attacks along the border between both countries on Thursday. According to a handout by the Prime Minister’s Office, PM Shehbaz said that zero tolerance should be adopted against the nexus between the Afghan Taliban and Fitna al Khwarij and its malicious actions. Fitna al Khawarij is a term the state uses for terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) “The actions of the Afghan Taliban regime and Fitna al Khawarij against Pakistan are unacceptable,” he said. He added that the country’s armed forces, under the leadership of Chief of Defence Forces Asim Munir, were always ready to defend the country. “Pakistan knows how to defend itself agai...

The Foreign Office (FO) on Thursday said that Pakistan’s recent strikes against neighbouring Afghanistan were carried out to ensure the “safety of Pakistani citizens” and to prevent “imminent terrorist attacks”. FO spokesperson Tahir Andrabi made the statement while responding to a question during his weekly press briefing. Pakistan targeted terrorist camps and hideouts overnight in the Nangarhar and Paktika provinces of Afghanistan over the weekend, with an official saying that “more than 80” terrorists had been killed in the air strikes. The strikes were the most extensive military engagement between the two neighbours since border clashes broke out in October last year. During Thursday’s press briefing, the FO spokesperson was asked about civilian casualties in the strikes, the total number of terrorists killed, and the locations of the camps targeted. In his response, he said, “Let me begin by reiterating that the intelligence-based selective targeting of these seven terrorist camps and their hideouts in ...

Pakistan has boosted security and arrested dozens of suspects as it fears a rising wave of militant attacks following its air strikes in Afghanistan, Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry said on Wednesday. “Our forces are on high-alert to combat any attacks,” Chaudhry told Reuters. “You know the militants always react whenever we go after their hideouts in Afghanistan.” Pakistan carried out air strikes on targets in Afghanistan over the weekend on what it said were militant targets responsible for a spate of recent suicide bombings on Pakistani soil. Islamabad blames Kabul for allowing the fighters to use Afghanistan as a safe haven. Kabul denies the charges, saying the militancy is Pakistan’s internal problem. Pakistani and Afghan forces exchanged fire along their border on Tuesday, with each side accusing the other of initiating the clash. There have also been a number of militant attacks, including the ambush of a police vehicle in Kohat in which five officers and two civilians were killed and a s...

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry briefed the Senate on Monday on recent strikes targeting terrorist hideouts in Afghanistan, pointing out that they were carried out following multiple attacks by militants in Pakistan and saying that Islamabad “cannot tolerate this anymore”. Pakistan carried out airstrikes on Afghanistan in a retaliatory operation late on Saturday night, targeting groups responsible for recent attacks in its territory. The strikes were conducted in retaliation for a series of suicide attacks in Islamabad, Bajaur, and Bannu that had claimed the lives of Pakistani security personnel and civilians. Mentioning these incidents, Chaudhry said they were “linked” to Afghanistan-based actors, adding that it was subsequently decided to give a “decisive response” to the neighbouring country. “As a result, our Air Force carried out strikes in three Afghan provinces, Paktika, Nangarhar and Khost on February 21,” he said, adding that there were reports of the deaths of over 100 militants ...

ISLAMABAD: Parliamentary Secretary for Information and Broadcasting Barrister Danyal Chaudhry on Monday stressed that national security was “non-negotiable” after Pakistan carried out strikes on terrorist targets in Afghanistan, killing over 80 terrorists. “Pakistan has always chosen the path of dialogue and peaceful coexistence. But when Afghan soil continues to be used for proxy attacks, we have no choice but to defend our homeland. National security is non-negotiable,” Chaudhry said in a statement. The PML-N MNA affirmed that the people of Pakistan “stand firmly” with their armed forces in the fight against terrorism. He urged the Afghan government to take “decisive action to prevent its land from being used for cross-border militancy”, warning that lasting peace in the region depended on the “complete dismantling of terrorist sanctuaries”. Noting that the recent operation “successfully neutralised militants involved in attacks on Pakistani soil”, Chaudhry stressed: “This action was aimed solely at those r...

Pakistan issued a demarche to the Taliban regime over the use of Afghan soil for a terrorist attack on security forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bajaur that martyred 11 soldiers, it emerged on Thursday. According to a press release by the Foreign Office (FO), the demarche was issued on Wednesday afternoon when the FO summoned the Afghan deputy head of mission. “Pakistan condemned in the strongest possible terms the vehicle-borne suicide terrorist attack followed by a fire raid on Pakistan military and law enforcement agencies’ posts in Bajaur, carried out by Fitna al Khawarij [or] the TTP,” the statement said. Fitna al Khawarij is a term the state uses for terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The FO expressed concern that the group, whose entire leadership is based in Afghanistan, “operates with impunity from Afghan soil”. It re-emphasised that Pakistan had received repeated assurances from the Afghan Taliban regime, “but, regrettably, with no visible or concrete actions”. “The A...

South Africa prevailed in a double Super Over thriller as Afghanistan came up agonisingly short of a famous victory after their T20 World Cup clash ended in a tie on Wednesday. Afghanistan were 187 all out after South Africa scored 187-6 in Ahmedabad. The teams were tied again after a breathless first Super Over saw them both score 17, before South Africa won off the final ball of a heart-thumping second sudden-death showdown. After South Africa bludgeoned 23 from their second super over and Afghanistan lost a wicket off the second ball of theirs, Rahmanullah Gurbaz was left needing four sixes off four balls for an unlikely victory. Gurbaz sensationally launched Keshav Maharaj into the crowd three times with some huge blows. A wide off the fifth ball meant Afghanistan still needed six to win but now a four would send it, incredibly, to a third Super Over. With nerves jangling and pulses racing, the left-arm spinner held his nerve to bowl a wide yorker that saw Gurbaz smack into the grateful hands of Davis Mil...

Opener Tim Seifert struck a blistering 65 off 42 balls to lead New Zealand’s highest-ever run in a T20 World Cup as they beat Afghanistan by five wickets on Sunday. After Afghanistan made 182-6, New Zealand were driven by Seifert’s 42-ball knock and 42 by Glenn Phillips to achieve their target with 13 balls to spare in Chennai. New Zealand’s previous best chase in the T20 World Cup was their 167 against England in the 2021 semi-final. Afghanistan spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman had New Zealand in early trouble when he struck on successive balls in the second over of the chase to dismiss Finn Allen, for one, and Rachin Ravindra, for a duck. The hat-trick was avoided by Phillips, who then got going with wicketkeeper Seifert in a partnership of 74 for the third wicket to thwart Afghanistan’s spin-heavy attack. Captain Rashid Khan let out a roar as he broke through to dismiss Phillips, who inside-edged onto his stumps. Leg-spinner Rashid dropped Seifert on 48 off his own bowling, and the batsman reached his fifty with a...

Snow and heavy rain have killed 61 people in Afghanistan in the past three days, disaster officials said on Saturday, with a major road and power also cut in several provinces. The deaths occurred mainly in central and northern provinces between Wednesday and Friday, according to a map released by Afghanistan’s disaster management authority (ANDMA). The “initial figures of casualties and destruction” also include 110 injured people and 458 houses that were either partially or fully destroyed, ANDMA said on social media platform X. A total of 360 families were affected, said a spokesman who asked people in a video message to avoid unnecessary travel on snowy roads. The spokesman also told AFP that most of the casualties were caused by roof collapses and avalanches, while many also died from frostbite in sub-zero temperatures. The emergency department in the southern province of Kandahar said six children were killed when the roof of their home collapsed in strong wind and heavy rain on Wednesday. Houses were a...

ISLAMABAD: Nearly 200 Pakistani students stranded in Afghanistan for months due to the closure of the border have demanded permission to cross the Torkham border, according to their representatives. Taliban authorities have told them that Pakistani diplomatic missions should officially approach them and verify the list with an official stamp. However, Pakistani officials are reluctant to do so, the affected students told Dawn from Kabul and Jalalabad. The Taliban allowed the first group of 26 students to cross Torkham on Jan 12, and Pakistani authorities also opened the border specifically for them. However, the students who arrived at Torkham on Jan 13 have not yet been allowed to cross, as Taliban authorities insist that the Pakistani embassy or the consulate in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province, should officially verify the list. Dr Riazullah Wazir and Amanullah Wazir, representatives of the students in Kabul, said students had met the Nangarhar governor and officials at the Pakistani embassy an...

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar has strongly condemned the remarks made by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi regarding Afghanistan, terming them irresponsible and against Pakistan’s national interests.