Islamabad: Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif has accused Afghanistan of acting as a tool for India, warning that any attack on Islamabad would draw a befitting response, 50 times stronger. Appearing on Geo News’ primetime show Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada ke Saath, Asif delivered a blistering critique of Kabul’s leadership, accusing it of dancing to India’s tune.
“The people in Kabul pulling the strings and staging the puppet show are being controlled by Delhi,” he said, alleging that India was using Afghanistan to compensate for its defeat on their western border, the Dawn reported.
Asif said recent talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan in Turkey collapsed after four or five reversals by the Afghan side. “Whenever we got close to an agreement when negotiators reported to Kabul, there was intervention, and the agreement was withdrawn,” he told the channel.
He praised the Afghan delegation for hard negotiation but accused Kabul’s power brokers of sabotaging progress under India’s influence. “India wants to engage in a low-intensity war with Pakistan. To achieve this, they are using Kabul,” he said.
Responding to Afghan threats of retaliation, Asif issued a stark warning. “If Afghanistan even looks at Islamabad, we will gouge their eyes out,” he said. “There should be no doubt that Kabul is responsible for the terrorism in Pakistan.”
Talks between the two sides — brokered by Turkey and Qatar — ended earlier this week without a breakthrough. The deadlock reportedly centered on Islamabad’s demand for verifiable action against the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which Pakistan says operates freely from Afghan soil.
