Afghan Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi accused Pakistan on Friday (October 10) of carrying out airstrikes near its borders, calling it a “mistake,” as Islamabad said it was taking action against militants.
Eleven more Pakistani soldiers were killed on Friday in a clash with militants in the Tirah area close to the Afghan border, according to Pakistani security officials. Islamabad says militants of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan group operate from Afghanistan, a charge denied by Kabul.
“In the border areas, which are our remote areas, there have been some attacks. We condemn it. And we consider it a big mistake of the Pakistani government,” Muttaqi told a news conference in New Delhi on Friday.
Muttaqi is on a six-day visit to the Indian capital after getting a temporary exemption on his travel ban. He held talks with his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar earlier in the day.
India on Friday upgraded ties with Afghanistan’s Taliban administration, giving a boost to the diplomatically isolated group, by announcing it would reopen its embassy in Kabul that was shut after the Taliban seized power in 2021.
Muttaqi also told reporters that, “Afghanistan will not allow military interventions or military presence of anyone,” in response to US President Donald Trump’s stated aim of taking over the Bagram military base near Kabul, the capital.
“If countries want to have relations with us, then they can come to the diplomatic mission. But we don’t accept them in the military uniform,” he said.
