While Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has not yet come to an end, many other countries have attempted to copy Russia’s example and set it on their own royal tables. After Imran Khan, an Afghan Taliban admirer, was expelled from the Prime Minister’s office and Shehbaz Sharif took his place, Pakistan might be regarded to have such a mindset.
According to The Khaama Press, Pakistani aircraft targeted civilian dwellings in the Spera district of the southeastern Khost province, killing at least 60 civilians. Pakistan’s foreign ministry has not verified the strikes or said whether they were carried out by planes. Pakistan’s embassy in Kabul denied that air attacks were carried out.
Taliban’s take on the attacks
If the Taliban‘s recent bombings on Afghanistan’s Khost and Kunar provinces, which killed 60 civilians, are repeated, Pakistan will face severe consequences, according to the Taliban.
Zabiullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s Deputy Minister of Information and Culture and Chief Spokesperson, warned in a statement that Pakistan should not test the patience of the Afghan people or else be prepared to face the consequences.
“We are attempting to fix the situation through diplomatic channels and dialogue. Such acts would exacerbate tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan, resulting in confrontations that will benefit no one”,
Mujahid maintains.
The Taliban-led government’s foreign ministry also summoned Pakistan’s envoy to Kabul, Mansoor Ahmad Khan, to the ministry, requesting that further attacks be avoided.
“No country should challenge the Afghans”
Said Inayatullah Khwarizmi, a spokesperson for Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry. It is not necessary to force the Afghans to follow suit. Afghans have demonstrated throughout history that they will never remain silent in the face of attack.
In mid-August, the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, ending the US military’s 20-year presence in the nation and marking the conclusion of a tumultuous and messy departure from America’s longest conflict.
Possible reasons trailing the Airstrike
The airstrikes happened after seven Pakistani soldiers were slain in North Waziristan just days before, the area that borders the eastern Afghan province where the aerial bombardments have taken place.
“Terrorists are using Afghan soil with impunity to carry out activities inside Pakistan”
Claimed a statement from Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry that was unusually severe.
According to Amir Rana, executive director of the Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies, an independent research tank that tracks militant activities in Pakistan, there had been 52 militant strikes in Pakistan by late March this year, compared to 35 in the same period last year. The attacks have also become more deadly. In Pakistan, 155 individuals have been killed in such attacks so far this year, compared to 68 the previous year.
“The diplomatic missions of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan strongly condemn the aerial bombardment of Afghanistan’s territory by Pakistani armed forces on April 16”
Tweeted Afghanistan’s ambassador to India, Farid Mamundzay.
The Durrand Line, a 2,670 kilometer (1,660-mile) separating line between the two countries, runs the length of the dividing line. The Durrand line extends through the ethnic Pashtun population of the region, splitting clans and families between the two countries on a regular basis. Despite the fact that it was established by the British in the 19th century, successive Afghan governments have refused to acknowledge it as the official boundary, instead claiming Pakistani territory known as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, which is dominated by ethnic Pashtuns.
While Islamabad has not commented on the purported attacks, it has increased military strikes against Pakistan’s Taliban, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which operates across Afghanistan’s porous borders and aspires to destroy Pakistan’s government.
Consolation and protestations
“UNAMA is gravely concerned by allegations of civilian casualties, including women and children, as a result of airstrikes in Khost and Kunar provinces”,
the organisation said on Twitter, adding that it was working to establish the facts and verify losses.
A huge number of Afghans living in the UK demonstrated outside the Pakistan embassy in London in protest over recent airstrikes in Afghanistan’s eastern provinces. Protesters referred to Pakistan as a terrorist state and chanted slogans such as “We want justice” from the UN and the international world, demanding that Islamabad be held accountable for the genocide in Afghanistan.
Protesters gathered outside the Islamic Republic of Iran’s embassy in Knightsbridge before marching to the High Commission for Pakistan, where they urged an end to Pakistan’s meddling and death of Afghan civilians. Demonstrations of this nature were also held in Paris, France.
Published By: Bhavya Dedhia
