Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday said it was up to the Afghan Taliban to ensure the ongoing 48-hour temporary ceasefire between the neighboring countries attains permanency, as he alleged the Taliban regime had attacked Pakistan at India’s behest.
The Afghan Taliban, in collusion with the India-backed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), conducted several unprovoked attacks on Pakistan this week while interim Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi was on an official visit of India. Pakistan’s armed forces struck back, killing over 200 Afghan Taliban and affiliated militants in self-defense. According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), 23 Pakistan Army soldiers embraced martyrdom during the clashes. On Wednesday night, at the request of the Afghan Taliban and with mutual consent, the neighboring countries agreed to a “temporary” 48-hour ceasefire.
“Unfortunately, despite all efforts, Afghanistan did not prioritize peace and adopted the path of aggression,” said Sharif during an address to the federal cabinet. He said Pakistan had no choice but to launch a full-scale retaliatory response amidst mounting incidents of cross-border terrorism. He recalled that Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif, and other senior officials had visited Kabul several times to convey Pakistan’s concerns and urge the Taliban to cease their facilitation of the TTP.
While expressing hope that the ceasefire would yield substantive attempts at resolving tensions through dialogue, the prime minister warned: “If this was only done to buy time, then we won’t accept it.”
He noted that several countries had reached out and said they would be willing to serve as mediators to resolve the conflict. The Qatari emir, he said, had condemned the entire episode in talks with him in Egypt and expressed a desire to play a role in cooling down tensions.
The heightened tensions between Islamabad and Kabul stem from the interim Afghan government’s refusal to act against terrorist groups operating from Afghan soil and staging attacks in Pakistan. Despite multiple attempts by Islamabad to seek the Taliban’s action against such terrorist elements, the interim Afghan government continues to describe the situation as an “internal” matter of Pakistan.