United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio flagged Pakistan’s concerns on cross-border terrorism at the G20 foreign ministers’ meet in Atlnata, saying Islamabad is concerned over “terrorist attacks from Afghanistan.” Rubio said that the US did not want Pakistan “to be targeted by terrorism.”
The US Secretary of State’s remarks came even as Pakistan hit several Afghan Taliban border posts and military installations in retaliatory strikes after alleged cross-border firing South Waziristan and Parachinar districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, news agency PTI cited state media as reporting on Friday.
“Pakistan is concerned about terrorist attacks that are being sponsored from the territory of Afghanistan. They think that the Taliban has not done enough to constrain those attacks” Rubio said, adding that Islamabad had taken action against this.
Pakistan hits Afghan border posts over cross-border firing
The state-run Radio Pakistan on Friday reported that the Afghan Taliban forces had opened “unprovoked” firing in the Angoor Adda area of South Waziristan on October 27, and Pakistani forces had retaliated to the strikes. It said heavy weapons were used to target border posts, defensive bunkers and military installations, PTI reported.
The report claimed that some of the Taliban personnel had been killed in the strikes, and several abandoned their positions. The claims could not be independently verified. The cross-border clash in Angoor Adda had also led to civilian casualties and property damage, PTI reported citing media reports.
However, the Afghan defence ministry on October 28 accused Pakistan of initiating the attack, saying the latter’s personnel had carried out four drone strikes targeting the Angoor Adda market and a commission in Afghanistan’s Baktika province. In a statement on X, Afghanistan’s defence ministry said the country’s forces responded to this, targeting Pakistani military headquarters and nearby positions.
Afghanistan claimed that its strikes resulted in the “killing and wounding of a number of Pakistani soldiers.”
Why are Pakistan-Afghanistan relations strained?
Relations between the two neighbouring countries have hit a low point, even as Islamabad alleges that the Afghan Taliban government is harbouring Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan militants, according to PTI. Islamabad has alleged that the TTP is being allowed to use Afghan soil to plan and carry out attacks inside Pakistan. Pakis
The Afghan Taliban has denied these claims.
