Asif declares ‘open war’ as Taliban turn Afghanistan into ‘India’s colony’

A day after “unprovoked and miscalculated” attacks on Pakistan’s military posts along Pak-Afghan border by Taliban regime forces, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif declared that Islamabad’s “patience has reached its limit” and that “now it is open confrontation.”

The minister stated this in a long post on X on Friday as Pakistani military continued to hit “carefully selected” targets of Afghan forces and their terror proxies in major urban centres of Afghanistan.

Referring to the period after the exit of US-led NATO forces from Afghanistan in 2021, Asif said that Pakistan had expected peace to prevail and anticipated that the Taliban would prioritise the interests of the Afghan people and regional stability.

Instead, he alleged, Afghanistan had been turned “into a colony of India,” accusing the Taliban of aligning themselves with New Delhi and allowing terrorist groups to operate from Afghan soil.

The minister claimed that terrorists from around the world had been allowed to gather in Afghanistan and that terrorism was being exported to neighbouring countries. He further accused the Taliban government of denying basic human rights to its own citizens, particularly women, saying rights granted under Islam had been taken away.

The minister said that Pakistan had tried repeatedly to stabilise the situation through diplomacy, both directly and with the help of friendly countries. “Extensive diplomatic efforts were made,” he said, but added that the Taliban had effectively become “a proxy of India.”

Framing the current situation as a turning point, Asif said that any aggression against Pakistan would be met with a decisive response from its armed forces. “By the grace of God, our armed forces are giving a decisive response,” he stated.

Highlighting Pakistan’s past role, he said that the country had hosted around five million Afghan refugees over the past five decades and that hundreds of thousands of Afghans continued to earn their livelihoods in Pakistan.

But, he warned, restraint had run its course. “Our patience has reached its limit. Now it is open confrontation. Now there will be decisive action,” Asif said, adding pointedly: “Pakistan’s army has not come from across the seas — we are your neighbours, and we know your reality well.”