By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office on Saturday sharply criticized a social media post by Britain’s special representative for Afghanistan, Richard Lindsay, describing his remarks on border violence as “one-sided” and lacking “a deeper understanding of the situation.”
The rebuke came hours after Lindsay shared a report from the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan documenting “tens of civilians killed or injured” in strikes in eastern Kunar province, including near a university in the provincial capital of Asadabad. In his own post on X, Lindsay expressed concern over “further violence along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, including strikes in Kunar,” and called on both sides to “protect civilians and avoid further escalation” while urging “dialogue and restraint.”
Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi, responding to media queries, said the British envoy’s comments failed to address the “root cause of terrorism” or Pakistan’s repeated accusations that the Afghan Taliban regime allows its territory to be used as a launchpad for attacks into Pakistan. “Cross-border aggression and terrorist infiltration attempts from the Afghan side have continued unabated despite Pakistan’s goodwill gesture of a temporary pause, announced in March 2026,” Andrabi said. Since that pause, he added, “indiscriminate and unprovoked cross-border attacks by the Afghan Taliban, and terrorist activities by Afghan Taliban-supported Indian proxies inside Pakistan, resulted in the martyrdom of 52 civilians and 84 injuries.”
Pakistan has long accused Kabul of harboring militants from the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, known locally as Fitna al-Khawarij, as well as other groups it says receive Indian backing — a charge denied by both Afghan and Indian officials.
Andrabi said Islamabad has responded with restraint, using precision strikes only against “Afghan Taliban posts and terrorist support infrastructure” while thwarting multiple infiltration attempts. Afghan claims of civilian casualties from these operations, he said, “lack evidential credibility.” “Such unwarranted remarks, without linking them to the root cause of terrorism, do not offer a balanced and objective perspective,” Andrabi added. “We urge a better understanding of regional dynamics, Pakistan’s principled stance, as well as the unparalleled sacrifices rendered by the people of Pakistan in the fight against terrorism.”
The latest exchange underscores the sharp deterioration in relations between the two neighbors since the Taliban seized power in Kabul in 2021. Tensions have escalated in recent months with frequent border clashes, Pakistani cross-border strikes and mutual accusations of harboring militants. Earlier this week, Pakistan’s information ministry dismissed Afghan media reports alleging that Pakistani attacks had deliberately targeted a university and residential areas in Kunar.
The friction persists despite diplomatic efforts, including peace talks between Pakistani and Afghan officials mediated by China in Urumqi.Pakistan launched Operation Ghazab lil-Haq on the night of Feb. 26 after what it described as unprovoked cross-border attacks by the Afghan Taliban. At the request of several “brotherly Islamic countries,” Islamabad announced a temporary pause on March 18 ahead of Eid al-Fitr. It resumed the operation on March 26, vowing to continue “until its objectives are achieved.”
On Friday night, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar described the recent wave of Afghan Taliban attacks on civilian areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province’s border districts as “unacceptable, insidious and reflective of their barbaric nature towards human life.” “Resorting to targeting civilian areas after being comprehensively beaten on the ground by the proud security forces of Pakistan and having no courage to face them is not only despicable but also speaks volumes of the low moral character of the regime leaders.”
Tarar cited figures released by the deputy commissioner of Bajaur district and noted that three civilians playing cricket were injured Friday in a “blatant and shameless quadcopter” attack carried out by Fitna al-Khawarij. Tarar contrasted Pakistan’s targeting of “terrorist infrastructure” — which he said is always conducted with transparency — with what he called the Afghan Taliban’s “frivolous false allegations” of deliberate civilian targeting by Pakistani forces. “Pakistan’s fight against kharji terrorists, their sponsors and abettors remained based on truth, principles, honour, resolve and faith,” Tarar said, “viz the kharjis and their Indian-backed abettors whose unholy fight and death both are resigned in shame, duplicity, greed and evil.”
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