The request comes a day after the Afghan foreign ministry said that it is considering a 'fitting response' to the alleged killing of three soldiers and eight civilians by Pakistani troops in the eastern Kunar province.
On June 23, the ministry’s spokesperson Ahmad Shakib Mustaghni had said, “Pakistani forces, wearing civilian clothes, carried out the attack” in Dangam district two days ago.
Kabul had made the allegations at a time when Islamabad is seeking the neighbouring country’s help to enhance border security to stop militants from fleeing and entering the Afghan side of the border.
In a press release today, Pakistan rejected Afghanistan’s allegations terming them as baseless and added that Pakistani forces have been attacked frequently from the Afghan side of the border.
“It is with deep disappointment that we have seen the allegations by senior Afghan officials regarding Pakistani troops in civilian dress conducting attacks in areas of Kunar Province. We reject these baseless allegations,” Pakistan’s foreign ministry said.
“The fact is that the Pakistan armed forces have been attacked repeatedly by terrorists operating from the Afghan territory. Our armed forces have acted only in self defence, with maximum restraint and responsibility,” the press release stated.
“Pakistan is engaged in a major effort to address the scourge of terrorism. We believe the unfounded allegations from the Afghan side not only vitiate the environment but also serve to undermine the efforts for constructive engagement between the two countries,” the foreign ministry spokesperson said in the statement.
“For our part, we will neither be deterred from addressing the challenges at hand, nor from building a friendly and cooperative relationship with the people of Afghanistan,” she added.
Border escalations came just days after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif sent his special envoy to Kabul, who met Afghan President Hamid Karzai and sought cooperation to make the North Waziristan’s military push successful.
Karzai has decided to send his national security adviser, Rangeen Dadfar Spanta, to Pakistan for follow-up discussions.
COMMENTS (35)
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"“Pakistani forces, wearing civilian clothes, carried out the attack” in Dangam district two days ago."
lol. And Afghan forces have this technology to scan militants in civilian clothes and figure out their complete background.
It's like Dara Singh saying to Mahmood Ghaznavi - please protect our interests
@Had enough: Those $3000 aint going to refugees brother..
@ajeet: You are dead wrong as an Indian troll. Abdullah lost the election.
@Oats: Oh really? Look who's talking.
@To be fair: ' use of power leads to unprovisioned results'.Well said. Can you think of one more country which repeatedly flexes its muscles without thinking through consequences and as a result, suffers each time?
@Trieste: You heard this during Kargill when your government claimed that it was civilian 'freedom fighters' in Kargill but it was later proven beyond doubt that it was Pakistani soldiers.
@Virkaul: In case you forgot, Pakistan shares a long border with China towards the north which gives access to Central Asia. Also Pakistan could build an underground tunnel under the narrow Wakhan corridor to completely bypass Afghanistan. Afghanistan can continue to be an Indian vassal state all it wants. If Pakistan just seals the border with it, they will only have access to Iran and Central Asia - regions that are equally eager to seal off their borders with Afghanistan to prevent refugees and criminals coming in from there.
The problem for Pakistan's foreign office is simple but complex: Army has such a long history of operating in civilian clothes that most international governments would simply ignore their protestations, even if true.
If Afghanistan is providing sanctuary to terrorist then Pakistan has every right to attack those terrorist if they are hiding in Afghanistan. However - don't be surprised if Afghanistan or the American's take similar action.
@Virkaul: With Afghaistan and Afghans, Pakistan will probably be a better country to live.
@Virkaul: What's about Pakistan harbor???? which is being used by Afghanistan for transit of trade puposes.
Why aren't they scared of our nucleus bombs?
Poor Afghans and Indians are really getting desperate as this operation is really kicking talibans b*tts hard.
@Waseem: Without Afghanistan, Pakistan has no geographical advantage as road to Central Asia passes through Afghanistan.
Pakistan has to handover Mullah Omar, Haqqani and Al-zawari to ANA even before making request to Afghan
both countries need to act responsibly and in co-operaton;sneakiness on any one's part will make both countries suffer.Should realize that it is not them ,but the terrorists on both sides that want to destabilize the peace and advance their agenda,and only co-ordinated action is going to help eliminate them.Live and let live should be the motto on both sides.
@xenia yes india. Govt knows it very well. We have seen that in 71 and kargil and many other wars. And tackled it very well.
Pakistan needs Afghanistan?
The newly armed/trained Afghanistan Karzai govt needs to learn restraint and avoid the impulse to flaunt its muscles. Unstrategic use of power can lead to unprovisioned results.
Its a little strange that Afghan is issuing its warnings with no proofs as usual for a retaliatory attack on PA. How about 100s killed every month with in Afghan? Deal with your own situation before even thinking of engaging someone else. US most probably will not help them in this dream, they already are trying to exit Afghan asap with no more fighting/ expenditures.
@Prince A. Majeed: Nice assessment! Pakistan and Afghanistan both need to act responsibly, the fact of the matter is, both need each other and there is no other way out!
@Had enough.. Open your eyes all your neighbours have sealed their border because you are part of problem. Instead of blaming others for your home grown snakes to bite neighbours like Hilary Clinton said, try and focus now how to dismantle them. "Why pakistan hosting 3m afgans" well tables have turned its time now the afgans ask your the same because since the operation Pakistanis are in their side of border. And btw you face refugee problem because you waged war on terror along with NATO on them..what else did you expect? @oats anyone who tries to put sense in you and show your mirror you blame him as india's puppet. Your this attitude has only lead your country to where it is today by deflating blames..
I think this retaliatory attack by Pak on the militants is a good step in a long long time .
@san: We should give a stern warning to India and Afghanistan that their support of cross border terror will no longer be tolerated.
Can the politicians please stop focusing on their "kursi" and start focusing on Pakistan
Can some one please explain to me why we are hosting 3m Afghans when ISAF the US has pumped $100bn of aid in to that country and the Afghan govt is giving $3000 each to Pakistani "refuguees"?
@ajeet: It doesn't matter whether it is Dr. Abdulla or anyone else. The Afghan leaders have always had a habit of making up stories and blaming their problems on others. Only when Afghans stop being puppets of India can they ever build their own country. Meddling across the border in Pakistan for the last 60 years has not helped Afghanistan tackle its own problems.
Apropos, facing consequences along the border and within the state and war footing is due to Afghan's inflexibility on strategic issues related to both states whether those are interanal or external, are esclating with the passage of time this ongoing nightmare will not resolve until serious negotiations process begin from both sides. Ultimately, i will not hasitate to lay much responsibility of the enigma on Afghan's higher authorities.
Pak Army should teach them a lesson for a peace in the country. the whole nation is with you. May Allah give you success. Ameen
@ajeet: Surely he can't be worse than Karzai but i don't think it will even matter . The key of good relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan lies in GHQ in Rawalpindi.
It has been an absolute unfortunate for south-east nations of Asia that when ever some counter terrorism or potential offense is initiated against extremist groups with a better planned strategy, one or the other nation(s) have tried to erect unnecessary advancements which have killed the zeal, passion and core objectives of every attempt(s), which were and are now being started to hammer down the cancer of terror in the region. Among many players, Afghanistan has been much discouraging partner in terms of inter-nation collaboration and support required especially by the Pakistan and its armed forces whose blood has been stained with large number of sacrifices in eradicating the plague of terrorism over the PAK-AFGHAN border, FATA and other terror-hit areas of Pakistan. Now, when Pakistan's military has started most effective offence (Zarb e Azb) against local and foreign militants on the extremist's hide-outs at PAK-AFGHAN border, the Afghan FO statement sounds like agenda driven approach to dismantle the effectiveness and weight of the offensive and it has now become its government's traditional habit, which is causing severe trust lapses smoothing ways for anti-peace forces to thrive under the shade of such immature comments. Afghanistan should atleast now show some political maturity and play the role of responsible nation towards inter-region partnership in fight against terrorism which have bleed the innocents and destroyed the generations on both sides of the border.
"Soldiers wearing civilian clothes" Where have we heard that before? It is time to stop playing games. Not everybody is amused.
The actual fun will start when Dr Abdullah comes to power in Afghanistan.
LOL let them attack us and face the consequences
If our Army is serious this time. No matter its Kunar or any Afghan Province they should go for the kill. Afghan government will protest for few days and everyone will normal next morning.