Kabul, Feb 23: The Taliban regime is seething with anger against Pakistan which carried out cross-border airstrikes at multiple places in Afghanistan soil last night, killing dozens of innocent civilian Afghans, including infants, children and women, that too during the ongoing holy month of Ramadan.
The Taliban regime said the Pakistani military air strikes in Paktika and Nangarhar provinces were against the Islamic values, neighbourly principles and international laws as it violated Afghanistan’s sovereignty
The Afghan regime vowed appropriate response at an appropriate time against Pakistan.
The airstrikes hit civilian houses and even mosques, reducing those to rubble which buried many innocent people, including infants and women.
“The Pakistani military regime has once again carried out air attacks on several civilian areas in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar and Paktika provinces, in which dozens of innocent civilians, including women and children, have been killed or injured,” said an angry Maulvi Siddiqullah Nusrat, Deputy Spokesman of Taliban regime’s Ministry of National Defense in a video statement.
He said the air strikes amounted to invasion of Afghan territory and it gave clear evidence of the intelligence and security failure of the Pakistani army which made the contentious claim about conducting the action against militants of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
He said the Ministry of National Defense saw the Pakistani action as a “flagrant violation of Afghanistan’s national territory” and an abhorrent crime, which went against the international laws, neighborly principles and Islamic values.
Emphasising that the Taliban regime considers the protection of the country’s sovereignty and security of its people as its legitimate and national responsibility, Nusrat promised “an appropriate and calculated response at the appropriate time.”
The Taliban regime stressed that the air strikes were an attempt by the Pakistani military to hide its failures on internal security front.
The Pakistani action has also been slammed by India, which expressed its support to Afghanistan’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence.
“India strongly condemns Pakistan’s airstrikes on Afghan territory that have resulted in civilian casualties, including women and children, during the holy month of Ramadan,” said External Affairs Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal in a statement.
He said the action was “another attempt by Pakistan to externalise its internal failures”.
