Struggling With Kabul Peace Talks, Pak Minister Makes A Wild India Claim

Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has made wild allegations, accusing Kabul of acting as a tool for New Delhi to spread terror in his country. Asif also warned of a "50 times stronger" response if Kabul attacks Islamabad. Making strong remarks on Geo News' primetime show 'Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada ke Saath,' he slammed Afghan negotiators for taking a step back from the peace deal time and again. The remarks came after peace talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan in Istanbul dramatically collapsed.

"Whenever we got close to an agreement—either in the last four days or last week—when negotiators reported to Kabul, then there was intervention and the agreement was withdrawn," Asif outlined, as reported by Dawn. "I believe that the negotiations were sabotaged. We had an agreement, but then they called Kabul and backpedaled from the deal."

Kabul had earlier dismissed similar allegations by Islamabad as baseless.

The Pakistani minister nonetheless complimented the Afghan negotiators for being cooperative and trained his guns at the Kabul leadership.

Deploying the classic Islamabad toolkit in an attempt to tweak the narrative, he alleged that Kabul was being controlled by New Delhi. "I would compliment their delegation, but the people in Kabul pulling the strings and staging the puppet show are being controlled by Delhi," he added.

"India is compensating for its defeat on their western border through Kabul. The junta there (in Afghanistan) has elements that have visited India and visited their temples," Asif claimed. "India wants to engage in a low-intensity war with Pakistan. To achieve this, they are using Kabul."

On Afghanistan's threats and a possible attack on Islamabad, Asif warned of a stronger response.

"If Afghanistan even looks at Islamabad, we will gouge their eyes out. They can employ the use of terrorists, and they already are. Over the past four years, they have been using terrorists," he said.

"There should be no doubt that Kabul is responsible for the terrorism in Pakistan. Kabul is a tool for Delhi. If they want to, God forbid, attack Islamabad, we will give a befitting response. A response 50 times stronger," the Defence Minister added.

Afghanistan's Defence Minister, Mohammad Yaqoob, had earlier called Pakistan's accusations "unfounded and illogical" and stressed that it maintains relations with India as an independent nation.

Pakistan-Afghanistan Peace Talks

Pakistan and Afghanistan on Saturday (October 25) began the second round of peace talks in Istanbul while Asif warned of engaging in open war in case the talks fail. The peace talks led by mediators from Qatar and Turkey did collapse.

The immediate trigger appears to have been Pakistan's admission, for the first time publicly, that it has an agreement with the United States permitting drone operations from its territory. Pakistani officials reportedly insisted that this pact "cannot be broken", a statement that provoked outrage from the Afghan side, which demanded assurances that Pakistan would not allow US drones to violate Afghan airspace.

Afghan sources have warned that any future Pakistani strikes will be met with "reciprocal action", stating that if Afghan territory is bombed, "Islamabad will be targeted."