Taliban warns Pakistan again, says Afghan forces ‘fully prepared’ to respond to any hostile action

Kabu: Kabul on Saturday said that its forces stand fully prepared to respond to any violation of Afghanistan’s territory, warning Pakistan that recent cross-border tensions will be met with decisive action, local media reported.

“Taliban authorities showcased hundreds of newly-graduated commandos this week as tensions with Pakistan rose sharply along the border. At a ceremony attended by senior officials, Taliban Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Ghani Baradar said Afghanistan would not tolerate any violation of its territory and was prepared to respond to any aggression,” Afghanistan’s leading Khaama Press news agency reported.

According to the Taliban Defence Ministry, the new commando units have received “full ideological and military training” and were ready to defend Afghanistan’s borders.

“Baradar warned neighbouring countries not to test the patience of Afghans and not to view Afghanistan territory with ill intent. During the ceremony, Taliban forces carried out helicopter manoeuvres and ground tactics to demonstrate operational readiness. The ministry said any foreign force seeking to breach Afghanistan soil would face a decisive response,” the news agency reported.

Another leading Afghan media outlet Tolo News reported that a group of religious scholars from Kabul’s 8th district, during a turban-tying ceremony, also criticised the Pakistani military regime’s attacks on Afghanistan, saying that no foreign power has ever succeeded in conquering the country.

“The Pakistani military regime, which threatens our system, progress, freedom, traditions, and heroism, cannot succeed,” Tolo News quoted Mohammad Elias Fateh, head of the scholars of Kabul’s 8th district, as saying.

Earlier this week, the Taliban regime had strongly condemned the Pakistani air strikes in the Afghan provinces of Paktika, Khost and Kunar, describing them as an infringement of the country’s sovereignty and a violation of all internationally recognised norms.

The Afghan government said on Tuesday that at least 10 civilians, including nine children, were killed after Pakistani forces struck a residential area in Khost, while separate air strikes in Kunar and Paktika injured four civilians.

Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesman for the caretaker Afghan government, took to his social media platform, stressing that a necessary response would be taken at a proper time.

“The airstrikes carried out last night by Pakistani forces in Afghanistan’s Paktika, Khost, and Kunar provinces constitute a direct assault on Afghanistan’s sovereignty and a clear breach of internationally recognised norms and principles by the Pakistani authorities,” Mujahid posted on X.

“These hostile actions by Pakistani forces achieve nothing; they only prove that operations driven by flawed intelligence inflame tensions and expose the ongoing failures of Pakistan’s military regime,” he added.

The Afghan spokesperson further mentioned that Kabul has the right to defend its territory and that an “appropriate response will be given at the appropriate time.”

The attack, according to officials, took place shortly after midnight and targeted the home of a local, reigniting concerns about escalating hostilities along the border.

Mujahid stated that the strike occurred around 12:00 a.m. on Tuesday in the Mughalgai area of Khost’s Gurbuz district.

–IANS