Pakistan can 'crush any aggressor', says PM Shehbaz Sharif as clashes with Afghanistan escalate

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Saturday that Islamabad can “crush” aggressors as the conflict with Afghanistan continues to escalate. Amid the clashes, Sharif released a statement, slamming Afghanistan. The remarks from the Sharif came right after Pakistani warplanes conducted air strikes on Kabul and other Afghan cities.

“Our forces have the full capability to crush any aggressive ambitions,” Sharif said, according to the Pakistani government’s X page. “The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the Pakistan armed forces,” he said.

Sharif’s remarks came hours after Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif declared an “open war” with Afghanistan’s Taliban. “Our patience has reached its limit. Now it is open war between you and us,” Khawaja Asif posted on X.

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Meanwhile, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said in posts on X that multiple Pakistani troops were killed and others taken prisoner. He added that large-scale operations had been launched against Pakistani military positions along the Durand Line in response to what he called repeated provocations.

War of words after violent clashes

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said that Islamabad’s retaliation to the Taliban attacks was a “befitting response”, as blasts and gunfire rang out in the cities of Kabul and Kandahar under Operation Ghazab lil-Haq.

“Pakistan’s armed forces have given a befitting response to the Afghan Taliban’s open aggression,” Naqvi said. The Taliban government in Afghanistan said that the attacks were in response to Pakistani strikes earlier this week, which had reportedly killed 18 people, as Islamabad said it targeted alleged militant camps and hideouts.

The group’s spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, emphasised that the offensive had killed “numerous” Pakistani soldiers and that others had been taken captive. A spokesman for Pakistan’s prime minister rejected the claim and also denied Mujahid’s assertion that 15 military posts had been seized.

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