1 month ago
Afghan Taliban forces targeted multiple posts inside Pakistan near the border in retaliation for last week's deadly airstrikes, the Afghanistan Defence Ministry said. However, details about casualties or the nature of the strikes remain unclear.
The Afghan officials also did not explicitly mention the locations of the strike but said it occurred "beyond the 'hypothetical line'", a term Afghan authorities use to describe the disputed border with Pakistan.
On December 24, Pakistan launched a series of airstrikes targeting the training facilities of insurgents in Afghanistan's Paktika province. Taliban officials claimed the attack killed at least 46 people, mostly women and children, and vowed to retaliate.
"Several points beyond the hypothetical line, serving as centres and hideouts for malicious elements and their supporters who organised and coordinated attacks in Afghanistan, were targeted in retaliation from the southeastern direction of the country," news agency Reuters quoted the Afghan ministry as saying.
Asked whether the statement referred to Pakistan, the Afghan official said, "We do not consider it to be the territory of Pakistan, therefore, we cannot confirm the territory, but it was on the other side of the hypothetical line".
Afghanistan has long contested the Durand Line, a border demarcated by the British in the 19th century, cutting through the rugged and often ungoverned tribal regions that now separate Afghanistan and Pakistan. Pakistani officials have accused the Taliban of not doing enough to combat cross-border militant activity, a charge the Taliban government denies.
The Pakistani military or its Foreign Ministry did not immediately comment on the attack.
Pakistan has claimed the strikes in Afghanistan last week targeted militant hideouts along the border. Afghanistan, however, said it was a "brutal act, a blatant violation of all international principles and an obvious act of aggression".
Afghanistan's foreign office had also summoned Pakistan's head of mission in Kabul to deliver a formal protest note to Islamabad.
Published On:
Dec 28, 2024
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