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Khawaja Muhammad Asif. PHOTO: REUTERS
ISLAMABAD:
Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Friday declared a “full confrontation” with the Taliban regime and posted on X: “There is now an open war between us and you.”
The comments came as the military silenced enemy weapons along the border. The operation was Pakistan’s most extensive bombardment of the Afghan capital and its first airstrikes against the Taliban authorities’ power base in the south since they returned to power in 2021.
The Defense Minister took the harshest tone, warning Afghanistan’s Taliban leaders that Pakistan had run out of patience and there would now be open war between the two neighbors.
“We know the position of our neighbor [Afghanistan]. We are your neighbors and we know your capacity,” he said, adding that “our patience has limits; now there will be an open war,” he wrote in a post on social media.
The defense minister stressed that the Pakistan army was not a force that had come “from the other side of the seas”, but Pakistan’s own army, fully capable of crushing “the Indian-backed proxies and Afghan aggression”.
Asif accused the Taliban of becoming proxies for India following the withdrawal of foreign forces in 2021 and claimed they had harbored and exported terrorists while denying basic rights to their own citizens.
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah Khan told the Senate that the entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the armed forces in the fight against terrorism as the house unanimously adopted a resolution reaffirming national unity against aggression and militancy.
Responding to Opposition Leader Senator Raja Nasir Abbas during a discussion on the resolution, Sanaullah said the unanimous passage of the resolution by the House of Federation reflected the collective will of the people and supported the nation’s resolve.
He said that at critical moments the Pakistani nation had always reposed full confidence in its armed forces and stood firmly behind them. Referring to the recent cross-border aggression, he said the armed forces had given a strong and effective response while acting with restraint.
Sanaullah said Pakistan’s armed forces were highly professional and fully capable of responding decisively to any hostile act, but had shown maturity and responsibility by limiting action to what was necessary.
He warned that elements involved in cross-border activities had previously been given opportunities to behave responsibly, but if the aggression continued they would be dealt with firmly.
The advisor said the government and political leadership were fully aligned with the decisions of the military leadership regarding national security and counter-terrorism operations.
During the debate, Senator Ali Zafar proposed the formation of a regional mechanism to address the situation. Sanaullah suggested referring the matter to the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs so that the Foreign Ministry and relevant security institutions are briefed behind closed doors before taking any decision.
He noted that friendly countries had facilitated negotiations in the past, but those efforts did not produce lasting results. However, he described the proposal as constructive and worthy of detailed consideration at the appropriate time.
Sanaullah said the central message of the resolution was clear: the nation stands united against terrorism and in support of its armed forces, law enforcement agencies and the families of the martyrs.
He added that while political issues would ideally be resolved through dialogue among stakeholders, national security issues required collective resolution. The prime minister had extended invitations for dialogue on multiple occasions, he said, adding that such discussions could be held separately from security-related concerns.
He urged opposition members to keep political differences separate from the national stance against terrorism, saying that while disagreements are part of democratic politics, unity on national security remains paramount.
