ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday justified its strikes in Afghanistan, saying it had “exercised its right to self-defense,” as an international wire agency reported Afghan and Pakistani officials confirming a ceasefire extension for talks in Doha.
The fierce battles between the two neighbors along their long and porous border broke out last Saturday and led to the deaths of dozens of people on both sides, with Pakistan carrying out airstrikes in Kandahar and Kabul before a two-day truce was agreed that was set to expire Friday evening.
The clashes came amid Pakistan’s claims that the Afghan Taliban had been sheltering banned militant groups like theTehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and facilitating cross-border attacks, allegations Kabul denies.
“Such unprovoked actions aimed at destabilizing the Pakistan-Afghanistan border belied the overall spirit of a peaceful neighborhood and cooperative relations between the two neighboring countries,” Foreign Office spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan said during his weekly news briefing, referring to the clashes. “Pakistan, exercising its right of self-defense, not only effectively repulsed the assaults all along the border but also inflicted heavy losses on Taliban forces and affiliated terrorist groups.”
