Amid the country’s stalled peace negotiations with Pakistan to end the escalating tensions that resulted in border violence, India on Thursday backed Afghanistan. New Delhi claimed that Kabul’s attempts to assert sovereignty over its regions had infuriated Islamabad.
While reports indicated that Pakistan and Afghanistan had agreed to resume peace talks in Istanbul at Turkiye’s request, Randhir Jaiswal, a spokesman for the external affairs ministry, told a weekly media briefing that Pakistan’s efforts to “practise cross-border terrorism with impunity” are unacceptable to its neighbors. Amid its conflicts with Pakistan earlier this month, India had declared its strong support for Afghanistan, accusing Islamabad of supporting terrorism and pointing the finger at its neighbors for its internal problems.
Afghanistan’s assertion of sovereignty over its own lands has angered Pakistan. Pakistan appears to believe that it can engage in cross-border terrorism without consequence. When asked about Pakistani defense minister Khawaja Asif’s claims that Afghanistan is acting at India’s request, Jaiswal responded, “Its neighbors find it unacceptable.”
Jaiswal declared, “India is still totally committed to Afghanistan’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independence.” While Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi was in India earlier this month, the Pakistan-Afghan border fighting broke out. Pakistan conducted airstrikes against targets inside Afghanistan, including the capital Kabul, sparking the deadly battles between the two erstwhile allies.
A Pakistani Taliban commander was apparently the target of one of the attacks, but he lived. A truce was reached on October 19 as a result of negotiations mediated by Qatar and Turkey. Afghan and Pakistani officials met in Istanbul for additional discussions but were unable to reach an agreement.
Throughout the ceasefire, clashes between the Pakistani military and the Pakistani Taliban persisted, with several deaths recorded this week on both sides. At Turkiye’s request, Pakistan and Afghanistan decided to hold new negotiations in Istanbul on Thursday. During the impasse, Asif charged that Afghanistan was promoting terrorism in Pakistan at India’s request.
Asif stated, “I think the negotiations were sabotaged.” “Delhi is controlling the people in Kabul who are pulling the strings and putting on the puppet show.”
Asif added that Islamabad’s response would be “50 times stronger” if Afghanistan launched any additional assaults on Pakistan. Additionally, he claimed on social media that Pakistan “needs not use even a small portion of its entire arsenal to totally destroy the Taliban regime and force them to retreat to the caves for hiding.”
The joint statement issued during Muttaqi’s visit states that India stands ready to support all efforts by Afghanistan directed towards sustainable water management, including hydroelectric projects, Jaiswal said in response to another question about whether India will assist the Taliban regime in its plans to build dams on Afghanistan’s Kunar river. According to him, India and Afghanistan have a long history of working together on water-related issues, such as the Salma Dam or the India-Afghanistan Friendship Dam in Herat province.