MEA: India fully committed to Afghanistan’s sovereignty

New Delhi: India on Thursday threw its weight behind Afghanistan in the face of its border conflict with Pakistan and said Islamabad’s efforts to “practice” cross-border terrorism with “impunity” is unacceptable to its neighbours.

New Delhi’s comments came amid the stalled peace talks in Istanbul between Afghanistan and Pakistan which were aimed at finding a peaceful solution to the conflict between the two countries.

“Pakistan is infuriated with Afghanistan exercising sovereignty over its own territories. Pakistan seems to think that it has the right to practice cross-border terrorism with impunity,” External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at his weekly media briefing.

“Its (Pakistan’s) neighbours find it unacceptable. India remains fully committed to the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independence of Afghanistan,” he said. The military conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan erupted while Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi was visiting India earlier this month.

The clashes erupted following a Pakistani airstrike on Kabul. Afghanistan strongly responded to the attack following which the conflict escalated.

The two sides entered into a ceasefire on October 19 following talks brokered by Qatar and Turkiye.

Pakistan and Afghanistan have been engaged in further talks as clashes between the Pakistan military and Pakistani Taliban continued in certain border areas even after the ceasefire came into effect.

Pakistan’s Information Minister, Attaullah Tarar, said on Wednesday that the peace talks ended without a breakthrough. As the stalemate continued, Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Wednesday threatened to “obliterate” the Afghan Taliban in case of any future terror attack in his country.

He also Asif accused Afghanistan of acting at the behest of India.

“I believe that the negotiations were sabotaged,” Asif said.

“The people in Kabul pulling the strings and staging the puppet show are being controlled by Delhi.”

Asif also said that if Afghanistan mounts any more attacks on Pakistan, Islamabad’s response will be “50 times stronger”.