The Foreign Office (FO) on Sunday warned that any further acts of aggression from Afghanistan would be met with an “unwavering and befitting response”.

This statement comes in the wake of intense border clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which started late on Saturday night and continued into Sunday morning. The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that 23 troops were martyred and 200 Taliban and affiliated terrorists were killed when Islamabad responded to unprovoked aggression by Kabul.

After the incident, an FO statement read: “Pakistan greatly values dialogue and diplomacy and a mutually beneficial relationship with Afghanistan.

“At the same time, the Government of Pakistan continues to closely monitor the situation and would take all possible measures to safeguard its territory and the lives of its people. Any further provocations would be met with an unwavering and befitting response.”

The FO expressed concern about the “unwarranted aggression by the Afghan Taliban, Fitna al Khawarij and Fitna al Hindustan”, which it said would destabilise neighbourly relations between the two nations.

Fitna-al-Khawarij is a term the state uses for terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) while Fitna-al-Hindustan is a term designated by the state for terrorist organisations in Balo­chistan.

Referring to Saturday night’s border clashes, the FO said: “Pakistan, exercising its right of self-defence, not only effectively repulsed the assaults all along the border, but also inflicted heavy losses on Taliban forces and affiliated kharjis, in terms of men, material and infrastructure.” It added that the said infrastructure was used to “plan and facilitate” acts of terror.

The FO also strongly rejected “assertions and insinuations” by Acting Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi to divert attention from the presence of terrorists in Afghanistan.

Muttaqi is currently on a visit to India, where he said in recent a speech that there was no terrorist organisation or group left in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s problems needed to be resolved internally.

“By making these baseless assertions, the Taliban regime cannot absolve itself of its responsibilities towards regional peace and stability,” the FO statement said.

“[The] continued presence of terrorist elements on Afghan soil and the freedom of activities enjoyed by them in Afghanistan are well documented in UN Monitoring Team reports.”

Noting that the fight against terrorism was a “common cause”, the FO urged Kabul to honour its commitment of barring the use of its territory for terrorism against other countries and to play its role in achieving peace and stability in the region, rather than shifting the blame.

“Pakistan has repeatedly shared its concerns related to the presence of Fitna al Khawarij and Fitna al Hindustan operating from the Afghan soil,” the FO stated. “Pakistan expects concrete and verifiable actions against these terrorist elements by the Taliban regime.”

“Pakistan is desirous of a peaceful, stable, friendly, inclusive, regionally connected, and prosperous Afghanistan. Pakistan expects the Taliban regime to act responsibly, honour its commitments, and play a constructive role in achieving the shared objective of rooting out terrorism from its soil,” the statement concluded.

Afghan refugees

The FO also noted Pakistan’s hosting of four million Afghan refugees as a gesture of “good neighbourliness, Islamic brotherhood and humanity” and added that it would “take all actions to regulate the presence of Afghan nationals on its territory, in accordance with international norms and laws”.

Earlier, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif reacted to the border clashes, saying that “Afghan refugees living in our country for 50 years would now have to return to their homeland”.

The Pak-Afghan border should be like other borders around the world, which no one should be able to cross at their will, he added.