Islamabad:
Pakistan’s ambassador to Kabul was called on Thursday to the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs to file a formal protest against what the Taliban regime claimed was Pakistani military strikes in Nangarhar and Khost provinces, in a step indicated renewed tension between the two hyphenous neighbors.
Afghan officials “condemned” the strikes they claimed resulted in the killing of three civilians and injuries to seven others.
In his protest note, the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned what it called Pakistan’s violation of the Afghan airspace and the bombing of civilian areas near the Durand line, describing the strikes as “an obvious breach of Afghanistan’s territorial integrity and a provocative act.”
The Ministry further emphasized that the protection of Afghanistan’s sovereignty remains a red line for the “Islamic Emirate” which warns that “such irresponsible actions will inevitably lead to consequences.”
There was no response from Pakistan on neither the call of envoy nor reported strikes across the border on Wednesday night.
Afghan officials in Nangarhar claimed that two drone strikes hit the house to a man in the Shinwar district in Nangarhar. The provincial Governor, Maulvi Azizullah Mustafa, said Afghanistan was obliged to peace and stability, good relations with neighboring countries and a neutral attitude in international affairs, and such actions will affect regional stability.
The development comes in the midst of renewed friction between Islamabad and Kabul over cross -border terrorism. Pakistan has long accused the Afghan Taliban of providing shrine to the forbidden Tehreek-E-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), who has intensified attacks inside Pakistan after the Taliban returned to power in Kabul.
Islamabad has performed occasionally cross -border strikes and insists that they are targeting terrorist equipment across the porous border. However, Kabul has consistently objected to such actions and denoted them violations of sovereignty.
Tensions between the two neighbors escalated earlier this year after Pakistan closed key crossings following an increase in terrorist attacks, while Afghanistan reciprocated with restrictions on trade and movement. The latest episode emphasizes the fragile state of bilateral tapes despite the recent push from the two sides to sort their problems.
There have been frequent high -level exchanges between Pakistan and Afghanistan in recent months, but these contacts appear to have failed to have a serious progress on the issue of security.
Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar recently traveled to Kabul to attend a trilateral meeting with the Chinese and Afghan foreign ministers. In a bilateral meeting with Taliban’s temporary Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, Dar Pakistan’s strong reservations over the lack of progress at TTP. He told his Afghan counterpart that the recent increase in terrorist attacks was linked to Safe Haven for TTP and other groups on Afghan Earth.
The Afghan Foreign Minister was to travel to Islamabad earlier this month, but the visit was interrupted at the last minute after the UN Security Council could not give him travel exemptions over objections that the United States traveled.
The two sides worked to sort the problem and have re -planned the visit, but given the latest HIK, it is not certain if Muttaqi will soon travel to Pakistan.
