Pakistan losing patience

2026-02-19 - 23:23

THE remarks made by Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif during his interview with France 24 channel are yet another indication that Pakistan was fast losing patience due to inaction of the Kabul regime to address its security concerns. He was unambiguous in declaring that Pakistan would not hesitate to conduct more air strikes in Afghanistan if no action was taken by Kabul against militants on its soil to ensure peace. He pointed out that any attack in Pakistan has the blessings of the Afghan government. What the Minister has stated is not a verbose as a direct confrontation between Pakistan and Afghanistan remains a possibility in view of continued attacks inside Pakistan by militants facilitated by Afghanistan, which are assuming lethal dimensions as highlighted by dastardly suicide bombing of an Imambargah in Islamabad. The subsequent arrests included that a Daesh-linked mastermind, an Afghan national and according to Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi that the network behind the attack was trained in Afghanistan. This was not the lone incident with linkages to Afghanistan as Pakistan authorities are in possession of undeniable evidence about involvement of Afghanistan-based terrorist outfits in almost all attacks in different parts of the country. It is strange that instead of acting seriously against groups active on its soil, the Taliban government is asking Pakistan to take care of its internal security. This is a strange logic as the Taliban claim to be in total control of entire Afghanistan and they ought not to allow any group to carry out terrorist activities against any other country, a commitment that Taliban also made under the Dohan peace accord, which was brokered by Pakistan. The Defence Minister elaborated that all the terrorist factions currently operating in Afghanistan, including the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Pakistan, TTP Afghanistan, Islamic State and Daesh, along with a dozen or more smaller groups, were present due to the attitude and non-seriousness of the Kabul government in curbing terrorism. It is quite obvious that Pakistan cannot sit idly and watch killings of its people on an almost daily basis and therefore, Afghanistan will have to act for the sake of regional peace and stability.