Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif warned on Wednesday there would be an “open war” if Kabul did not stop militants from launching attacks on Pakistani territory, marking one of Islamabad’s strongest public statements in recent weeks amid spiraling tensions between the neighbors.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have sharply deteriorated over the past year as Islamabad accuses the Taliban government in Kabul of sheltering militants linked to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group, which Pakistan says has intensified attacks from bases inside Afghanistan. Kabul denies the allegations and says militancy in Pakistan is an internal security issue.
Asif’s remarks, delivered on the floor of the National Assembly, came days after a deadly assault on a police post in the northwestern city of Bannu killed at least 14 police officers in a car bombing and ambush Pakistan has blamed on Afghanistan-based militants.
Another bombing in Lakki Marwat district on Tuesday killed at least nine people and wounded dozens in a crowded market in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan.
“Then only one alternative remains. Then there will be war,” Asif said, referring to what he described as Afghanistan’s refusal to stop militants from using its territory to launch attacks against Pakistan.
“It will be an open war.”
The defense minister said Islamabad had repeatedly attempted dialogue with Kabul, including talks mediated or facilitated by Qatar, Türkiye and Saudi Arabia, but failed to secure written assurances from Afghan authorities that attacks against Pakistan would stop.
“I myself personally conducted three rounds of talks,” Asif said.
“You cannot imagine… there were talks lasting 12 hours, 13 hours, even 19 hours with the Kabul government, but under no circumstances are they willing to put anything in writing.”
Asif also directly linked the Afghan Taliban government to India, Pakistan’s main regional rival.
“If they are not willing to abandon the terrorists, and if they are not prepared to commit to ending support for those terrorists, then the Kabul government at this moment is acting as a proxy of India,” he said.
“Hindutva is fighting its war against us through Kabul, Afghanistan,” the defense minister said, referring to the Hindu nationalist ideology associated with India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Afghanistan has repeatedly rejected Pakistani allegations that it shelters militants responsible for attacks inside Pakistan.
Relations between Islamabad and Kabul have deteriorated sharply over the past year amid rising cross-border violence, with the two sides engaging in some of their fiercest military clashes in years since late 2025.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said Tuesday least 372 Afghan civilians have been killed during conflict with Pakistan in the first three months of this year.
More than half of the deaths were attributed to a March 16 airstrikes that hit a drug rehab facility in Kabul, UNAMA said in a report. Pakistan has denied targeting civilians.
Despite the tensions, Asif said Pakistan still preferred dialogue if Kabul was willing to address Islamabad’s security concerns.
“Our wish, of course, is that there should be a difference,” he said.
“That they should talk to us. That they should come to some kind of arrangement with us. So that some solution to this terrorism can be found.”
Source: Arab News
