Islamabad, February 19 – Pakistan has issued a formal protest to the ruling Taliban regime in Afghanistan, accusing it of allowing Afghan soil to be used for a recent attack on security forces in the Bajaur district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, local media reported on Thursday.
The protest was issued after Pakistan's Foreign Office (PFO) summoned the Afghan deputy head of mission. The statement read, "Pakistan strongly condemned the vehicle-borne suicide attack followed by a fire raid on Pakistan's military and law enforcement posts in Bajaur, carried out by Fitna al Khawarij [or] the TTP," Dawn, Pakistan's leading daily, reported.
Fitna al Khawarij is a term used by Pakistan for terrorists belonging to the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group. The PFO said that the group, whose leadership is based in Afghanistan, "operates with impunity from Afghan soil." It added that Afghanistan has repeatedly assured Pakistan, but "has taken no visible or concrete action," Dawn reported.
According to a statement released by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), a terrorist attack was carried out on a checkpost in Bajaur, involving a vehicle laden with explosives, killing 11 security personnel on Monday. The statement further stated that 12 terrorists were killed after security forces retaliated.
Earlier this month, Afghanistan's Ministry of National Defence rejected Pakistan's allegations regarding the attack at a mosque in Islamabad on February 6, calling them "irresponsible and baseless," and urged Pakistani officials to take responsibility for their internal security shortcomings, local media reported.
Afghanistan's statement came after Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, in a post on X, mentioned that preliminary findings indicated that the attacker had been moving to and from Afghanistan.
In the statement, the Afghan National Defence Ministry said that Asif "immediately and irresponsibly" blamed Afghanistan for the attack without conducting proper investigations. Afghan authorities stated that this pattern had been witnessed in the past, particularly regarding incidents in Balochistan and other security incidents in Pakistan, Ariana News reported.
The ministry stated that "linking such attacks with Afghanistan has no logic or foundation," adding that these statements cannot hide Pakistan's internal security failures or help address the problem. The ministry questioned: "If they were truly able to identify the perpetrators immediately after the incident, then why were they unable to prevent it beforehand?”
It expressed its commitment to Islamic values, which do not permit harming innocent civilians under any circumstances, and asked Pakistani security officials to take responsibility for their internal security shortcomings, review their policies, and adopt a more constructive and cooperative approach towards the people of Pakistan and neighboring nations, Ariana News reported.
