Foreign Office says strikes in Afghanistan undertaken in self-defence Media reports claim Pak, Afghan talks set to start in Doha Defence Minister says no delegations will go to Kabul Wherever the source of terrorism lies, it will have to pay heavy price: Kh Asif.
ISLAMABAD/PESHAWAR – Pakistan and Afghanistan mutually agreed on Friday to extend the 48-hour ceasefire until conclusion of planned talks in Doha.
Pakistani and Afghan delegations are expected to reach the Qatari capital to hold talks following deadly clashes on the borders. A temporary truce on Wednesday paused days of fighting that killed dozens and wounded hundreds.
An initial 48-hour ceasefire between the two sides came into effect this week after days of bloody cross-border attacks. As it was set to expire at 13:00 GMT on Friday, both sides agreed to an extension, diplomats in Pakistan and Afghanistan said.
As the end of the initial truce approached, Pakistani police official Irfan Ali said a suicide car bomber backed by Pakistan Taliban, known by the acronym TTP, attacked a military compound in Mir Ali, a city in North Waziristan district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Accounts of losses suffered during the attack varied.
The official, quoted by news agency The Associated Press, said three fighters were killed in an intense shootout and did not report any troop casualties.
News agency Reuters quoted Pakistani security officials as saying seven Pakistani sol-diers were killed in an attack by a fighter who rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the wall of a Pakistani military camp in North Waziristan.
The anonymous officials said two other fighters were shot dead as they tried to get into the facility. At least 13 were left injured.
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said on Friday that terrorists would pay heavy price regard-less of wherever the source of terrorism lies, adding that the relationship with Kabul would no longer be like it was in the past. “There will no longer be protest notes or appeals for peace; no delegations will go to Kabul. Wherever the source of terrorism lies, it will have to pay a heavy price,” said the defence minister in a post on X.
Asif added that Afghanistan is sitting in India’s lap and plotting conspiracies against Paki-stan and that Islamabad can no longer afford to have relations with Kabul like in the past. “All Afghans on Pakistani soil will have to go back to their homeland,” he wrote. “Now they have their own government [or] caliphate in Kabul. It has been five years since the Islamic revolution … they must live with Pakistan as neighbours.”
In the post, the defence minister elaborated on the visits by Pakistani delegations to Kabul and provided figures for acts of terrorism by groups operating out of Afghanistan and the total number of casualties.
Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Shafqat Ali Khan while reply-ing to a question said that the regular diplomatic interactions between Pakistan and Af-ghanistan are ongoing and things are moving fast. He said Pakistan desires a peaceful, stable, friendly, inclusive, and prosperous Afghanistan.
He said that the recent remarks made by Spokesperson of the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs are unfortunate and reflect a deliberate mischaracterization of the situation on the ground regarding recent developments in Pakistan-Afghanistan relations.
Ambassador Shafqat Ali Khan while replying to another question during his weekly media briefing in Islamabad on Friday also said that we have noted the remarks of the Spokes-person of the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, concerning recent developments in Paki-stan-Afghanistan relations. He said the Indian negative role in destabilizing the entire re-gion is well known.
Shafqat Ali Khan said Pakistan’s actions were guided solely by considerations by its own security and undertaken in self-defence against unprovoked and destabilizing activities along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
He said such comments are obviously aimed at sabotaging the efforts currently underway to restore peace and normalcy.
The Foreign Office Spokesperson said India is in no position to cast aspersions on others, giving its own well-documented record of involvement in acts of terrorism and extra-territorial assassinations in Pakistan and beyond.
He said Indian claims of respecting Afghanistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity ring hollow in light of its persistent interference in the internal affairs of other countries.
About Pakistan’s election to the United Nations Human Rights Council, Ambassador Shafqat Ali Khan said Pakistan has been elected to the UN Human Rights Council for the term 2026-2028 with an overwhelming majority of 178 votes.
He said this marks Pakistan’s sixth election to the Council since its establishment in 2006 and reflects the global community’s confidence in our commitment to human rights and consensus building.
The Spokesperson said Pakistan will continue to spotlight human rights violations in Indi-an Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir and Palestine
