Pakistan’s Defense Minister, Khawaja Asif, said this morning that his country had entered an “open war” with Afghanistan, after intense fighting along its border.
The United Nations called, this Friday, for “calm” between Pakistan and Afghanistan, after Islamabad declared “open war” against the Taliban, in response to the wave of Afghan attacks on Thursday, bombing Kabul, Paktia and Kandahar.
“Once again, I call for calm and respect for international human rights law, in particular the protection of civilians, in the current tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which have unfortunately resulted in violence,” said UN Special Rapporteur for Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, who said that “an immediate de-escalation is essential.”
Pakistan’s Information Minister, Ataulá Tarar, said today that Pakistani attacks, part of the “Wrath of Truth” operation, killed more than 130 suspected Taliban, before stressing that “it is estimated that there are many more casualties in attacks against military targets in Kabul, Paktia and Kandahar”.
Pakistan’s Defense Minister, Khawaja Asif, also stated this morning that his country entered an “open war” with Afghanistan, after intense fighting along its border.
“Our patience is over. From now on, we go to war with you”, wrote Asif heading to Afghanistan in a message on the social network X.
The spokesman for the Taliban regime, Zabihulá Muyahid, confirmed the bombings, although he denied the number of victims, after Afghan authorities claimed that Thursday’s wave of attacks resulted in the deaths of more than 50 Pakistani soldiers along the Durand Line — which marks the 2,640 kilometers of border between the two countries.
Hostilities erupted days after Afghan authorities reported to the United Nations Security Council bombings carried out by Pakistan against the country, stating that the attacks caused the death of more than a dozen civilians.
Islamabad argued that the airstrikes were launched against “terrorist camps and hideouts” of the armed group Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), known as the Pakistani Taliban, and the Islamic State group, in an operation in response to recent suicide attacks that took place on Pakistani soil.
