India on Monday condemned Pakistan’s air strikes in Afghanistan that killed dozens of civilians, saying Islamabad often sought to blame neighbouring countries for its “own internal failures”.
The Taliban regime in Kabul said the air strikes by Pakistan on December 24 killed at least 46 civilians, including women and children. Four days later, Afghan Taliban forces said they targeted several points near the Durand Line, the contested border between the two countries, in retaliation for the airstrikes.
External affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the Indian side has noted media reports about the air strikes on Afghan civilians, including women and children, in which “several precious lives have been lost”.
He said: “We unequivocally condemn any attack on innocent civilians. It is an old practice of Pakistan to blame its neighbours for its own internal failures.” Jaiswal added, “We have also noted the response of an Afghan spokesperson in this regard.”
An Afghan Taliban spokesman said on December 25 that the foreign ministry in Kabul summoned the Pakistani charge d’affaires to lodge a protest over the air strikes. The Taliban also pointed out that the assault was carried out while Pakistan’s special envoy for Afghanistan, Mohammad Sadiq, was in Kabul for official talks.
The Pakistani military’s “aggression against Afghanistan” amounted to a violation of sovereignty and an “attempt to create mistrust in the relations between the two countries”, the Taliban spokesman said.
{{/usCountry}}The Pakistani military’s “aggression against Afghanistan” amounted to a violation of sovereignty and an “attempt to create mistrust in the relations between the two countries”, the Taliban spokesman said.
{{/usCountry}}Pakistani officials said the air strikes targeted the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which has been using Afghanistan as a base to carry out attacks on Pakistani security forces. According to a United Nations Security Council report, an estimated 6,000 TTP fighters are in Afghanistan.
Taliban leaders have denied these allegations and described the TTP as Pakistan’s internal issue. They have also contended that Pakistan has supported Islamist movements for a long time and is facing the consequences of such actions within its borders.
Following the retaliatory attacks on December 28, the Taliban’s defence ministry said its forces targeted Pakistani points that “served as centres and hideouts for malicious elements and their supporters who organised and coordinated attacks in Afghanistan”.
At least one Pakistani security personnel was killed in the retaliatory attacks, marking a sharp escalation in tensions between the two countries. Tensions have been building since a TTP attack on December 21 killed at least 16 Pakistani soldiers.
Pakistan’s military establishment, which supported and provided shelter to key elements of the Afghan Taliban for decades, had believed that the group would help rein in the TTP after it assumed power in Kabul in August 2021. The Taliban, however, have given no indication that they will crackdown on the TTP, which has been blamed for scores of attacks within Pakistan over the past three years.