Pakistan dismisses Afghan allegations of violating airspace

Two sides trade allegations hours before PM Abbasi's visit to Kabul

Islamabad has dismissed allegations by the Afghan government that the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) violated its airspace by conducting air strikes in the Kunar province, advising them to “refrain from blame game.”

Pakistan rejects the baseless allegations by the Afghan government regarding violation of airspace, said a statement by the Foreign Office. It maintained that the security forces were conducting a counter-terrorism operation in Bajaur Agency, targeting militant groups “who continue to attack Pakistan from their sanctuaries on Afghan soil.”

FO stated that the intel pertaining to ongoing counter-terrorism operations was shared with the Afghan security forces on a regular basis – adding that details regarding current operation was shared in a meeting between director generals military operations of the two sides on March 5.

Hours before Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is scheduled to arrive in Kabul to discuss cooperation on stopping militant attacks with the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, a statement from the Afghanistan ministry of foreign affairs alleged that Pakistani jets dropped four bombs on Wednesday evening in Kunar’s Dangam district. It did not elaborate on the damage and made no mention of any casualties.