The fighting began Saturday night, when Afghan forces struck multiple Pakistani military posts. Afghanistan officials claimed to have killed 58 Pakistani soldiers in response to what they said were repeated violations of Afghan territory and airspace.
Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, ommenting on tensions with Pakistan, on Monday said that Afghanistan has no issues with Islamabad but will respond if the situation escalates. He further claimed that Afghanistan had achieved its objectives in the recent border clashes with Pakistan and that the fighting was stopped at the request of Gulf nations, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event organised by industry body Ficci in New Delhi.
Afghanistan achieves its objective: Muttaqi
Muttaqi further said that Afghanistan has achieved its objective in the border skirmish against Pakistan, and stopped the attack at the request of Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Replying to media queries, the visiting minister said Afghanistan retaliated to Pakistani aggression on the border, and objectives were achieved. “During the operation, our friendly countries, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and UAE, requested that the war should stop, and we agreed,” Muttaqi said.
He further said that there has been no significant incident after that. “We believe that war is not a solution to any problem. Dialogue and diplomacy are needed to resolve issues. This will be our policy in future as well. We want people in the region to live in peace and prosper, and lead a good life,” Muttaqi said.
58 Pakistani soldiers killed in clash
Tensions have been high since last week when Afghanistan’s Taliban government accused Pakistan of carrying out airstrikes in the Afghan capital Kabul and in a market in eastern Afghanistan. Pakistan did not claim responsibility.
The Taliban government in Afghanistan has claimed that its forces killed 58 Pakistani soldiers and took control of 25 army posts during overnight operations along the shared border.
The conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan has been going on for a long time. Tensions between the two countries are not new. Pakistan has often accused Afghanistan of giving shelter to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistani Taliban, a militant group that follows the same ideology as the Afghan Taliban.
Pakistan blames the TTP for carrying out several deadly attacks inside its borders, which have killed both civilians and security personnel.
According to Pakistan, the Afghan Taliban supports the TTP and allows them to use Afghan soil to plan and launch these attacks. A report by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), a US-based research group, says the TTP carried out over 600 attacks against Pakistani forces in 2024 alone.
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