Pakistan responds to Afghanistan's protest over killing of at least 8 civilians

By Shafiq Ahmad

ANKARA (AA) – Pakistan responded Sunday to the Afghan interim administration's strong official protest over the killings of at least eight refugees in an airstrike and artillery shelling on its territory.

A statement issued by a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad did not categorically accept responsibility for the airstrike in southeastern Khost province and artillery shelling in northeastern Kunar province in Afghanistan Friday night.

However, it blamed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a militant organization, for intensified terrorist attacks using Afghan soil, including the latest one in the North Waziristan tribal district in which seven security personnel were killed, hinting at an acknowledgement of the attacks.

If officially confirmed, they would be the first such attacks by Pakistani forces since the Taliban retook power in Afghanistan in August of last year, forcing US forces to pull out ahead of a scheduled withdrawal under the 2020 Doha accord.

According to interim Taliban administration officials in Kabul, the Pakistan Air Force carried out airstrikes on civilian settlements in Khost, and its military shelled the Kunar region near the Durand Line which separates the two countries.

At least eight people were killed in the attacks and all of them were civilians, said Taliban officials. A video posted on social media shows the bodies of men, women and children killed in the strikes.

At least four children and a woman were killed by artillery shells fired by Pakistani forces in Kunar's Shelton district, according to Qari Najibullah Hanif, the province's spokesman.

All of those killed were refugees from Pakistan's tribal districts of South Waziristan and North Waziristan who had fled their homes during the Pakistani army's military operation Rah-e Nijat in 2014.

“Pakistan and Afghanistan have been engaged for the past several months through institutional channels for effective coordination and security along our long shared border. Unfortunately, elements of banned terrorist groups in the border region, including the TTP, have continued to attack Pakistan's border security posts, resulting in the martyrdom of several Pakistani troops,” said the spokesman for Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry.

“Pakistan, once again, strongly condemns terrorists operating with impunity from Afghan soil to carry out activities in Pakistan. This is detrimental to our efforts of maintaining peace and stability along the Pak-Afghan border,” the statement added.

On Saturday, the interim Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan summoned Pakistan's Ambassador to Afghanistan Mansoor Ahmad Khan and condemned the attacks and handed him a note of protest.

According to the official statement, the meeting was also attended by acting Foreign Minister Maulvi Amir Khan Mottaki and acting Deputy Defense Minister Alhaj Mullah Shirin Akhund.

Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid strongly condemned the Pakistani strike on Afghan soil in an audio message issued to the media.

Pakistani forces targeted refugees escaping the conflict in Waziristan, bombing them and killing children and women, an act he condemned as tyranny.

"To avoid such crises in the future and to protect Afghanistan's sovereignty, the Pakistani side should understand that escalation of the conflict will be disastrous to the region," he warned.