ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has said the Afghan Taliban regime has become an Indian proxy and is not ready to withdraw support for terrorist groups carrying out attacks inside Pakistan.
Speaking in the lower house (National Assembly) of the country’s Parliament on Wednesday, Defence Minister Asif said India, after facing defeat in Marka-e-Haq (Battle of Truth) in May last year, lacks the courage to confront Pakistan directly and is instead using Kabul to wage a proxy war against the country.
“There is no difference between Delhi and Kabul,” Asif said.
“Kabul is not giving us any guarantee to stop terrorism,” Asif said, adding that Afghan authorities only made verbal commitments and were not prepared to provide written assurances.
Despite these concerns, the Defence Minister said Pakistan engaged Afghanistan in detailed negotiations, though the talks had remained inconclusive.
Khawaja Asif revealed that three rounds of negotiations had been held with the Taliban with the support of Turkiye, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
However, he said the Taliban had failed to provide assurances that Afghan territory would not be used for attacks against Pakistan.
“If they do not stop backing terrorists, then there will be war,” Asif warned.
He paid tribute to the sacrifices of Pakistan’s armed forces in the fight against terrorism and stressed that the nation remained united in its resolve to eliminate the menace.
The defence minister said Pakistan still favoured dialogue with Kabul to reach a workable arrangement against terrorism.
However, he warned that if the Taliban regime failed to cooperate, they would receive the same response that had earlier been given to New Delhi.
Relations between the two neighbouring countries have deteriorated sharply in recent years, with Pakistan repeatedly urging the Taliban regime to prevent Afghan soil from being used for terrorist activities against Islamabad — a commitment Pakistan says remains unfulfilled.
While several friendly nations have attempted to ease tensions between the two sides, Pakistan has consistently maintained that the security of its citizens is non-negotiable and has repeatedly called on the Taliban regime to end any support for terrorist groups.
Mediation efforts by Turkiye and Qatar last year briefly helped reduce tensions but failed to produce a lasting understanding between Islamabad and Kabul.
