ISLAMABAD: Defense Minister Khawaja Asif on Wednesday issued a strong warning to the Afghan Taliban regime, saying Pakistan does not need to employ even a fraction of its full military strength to “completely obliterate” the Taliban government if provoked.
In a statement shared on social media, the minister said Pakistan had engaged in dialogue with the Taliban only at the request of “brotherly countries” who had urged Islamabad to give peace a chance. However, he said “venomous statements by certain Afghan officials” reflected the “devious and splintered mindset” of the Taliban regime.
“Pakistan does not require to employ even a fraction of its full arsenal to completely obliterate the Taliban regime and push them back to the caves for hiding,” Asif wrote, warning that a repeat of the scenes of their rout at Tora Bora “would surely be a spectacle to watch for the people of the region.”
The minister accused the Taliban government of “blindly pushing Afghanistan into yet another conflict” to sustain its “usurped rule and war economy.” He said the regime was using “hollow war cries” to maintain a crumbling façade despite knowing its limitations.
“If the Afghan Taliban regime is madly hellbent upon ruining Afghanistan and its innocent people once again, then so be it,” he stated.
Asif also dismissed the Taliban’s claim of Afghanistan being the “graveyard of empires,” saying, “Pakistan certainly doesn’t claim to be an empire, but Afghanistan is definitely a graveyard — surely for its own people.”
He added that the “war mongers” within the Taliban regime had misread Pakistan’s resolve and warned that any terrorist attack or suicide bombing inside Pakistan would be met with a decisive response.
“We have borne your treachery and mockery for too long, but no more. Any terrorist attack inside Pakistan shall give you the bitter taste of such misadventures,” Asif cautioned. “Test our resolve and capabilities, if you wish so, at your own peril and doom.”
The remarks come amid growing tensions between Islamabad and Kabul following a series of cross-border attacks that Pakistani officials have blamed on militants operating from Afghan soil.
