Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has once again sparked controversy with remarks that have stirred political debate across South Asia. In a televised interview, Asif claimed that Afghans have “always stood with India — yesterday, today, and tomorrow,” asserting that Afghanistan has historically maintained stronger ties with India than with Pakistan. His comments come at a sensitive time, coinciding with Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi’s visit to India — the first such high-level diplomatic engagement since the Taliban’s takeover in 2021.
Criticising Pakistan’s past policies, Asif alleged that successive governments in Islamabad made a strategic mistake by providing refuge to millions of Afghan nationals for decades. He claimed that Pakistan’s decision to host Afghan refugees was made under pressure from the United States during the Soviet-Afghan war, and that the goodwill expected from Afghanistan never materialised. “We made huge sacrifices for Afghanistan, yet they never stood by us,” Asif remarked, expressing frustration over what he described as Afghanistan’s consistent pro-India tilt.
Later, addressing Pakistan’s National Assembly on Thursday, Asif adopted a far more aggressive tone. He warned that Islamabad’s patience had reached its limit and declared that Pakistan would no longer tolerate terrorism emanating from Afghan soil. Asif stated that Pakistan’s armed forces would take action against terrorist facilitators “wherever they are,” hinting at possible cross-border operations if the Taliban administration failed to rein in militant groups active along the Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier.
The sharp escalation in rhetoric from Pakistan comes as Afghanistan’s Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi begins his six-day visit to India. Muttaqi’s trip, cleared by a temporary United Nations travel waiver, marks the first official engagement between New Delhi and Kabul since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021. He arrived in New Delhi on Thursday for discussions with India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, focusing on bilateral and regional security issues.
According to Indian officials, Muttaqi’s visit will also include cultural and educational stops, such as visits to Darul Uloom Deoband and the Taj Mahal — symbolic gestures that signal the Taliban government’s desire to strengthen diplomatic and cultural ties with India. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal welcomed the Afghan minister, saying, “India looks forward to engaging in discussions on bilateral relations and regional issues.”
This visit follows a phone conversation between Muttaqi and Jaishankar in May, which represented the highest-level contact between India and the Taliban regime since 2021. While India has not formally recognised the Taliban government, it continues to advocate for an inclusive administration in Kabul that respects human rights and ensures that Afghan territory is not used as a base for terrorism against any nation.
The timing of Asif’s comments — coinciding with Muttaqi’s diplomatic outreach to India — has drawn attention from regional observers, who view it as reflective of Islamabad’s growing frustration over Kabul’s independent foreign policy direction. The developments highlight the complex dynamics between India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan as each nation recalibrates its strategies amid shifting geopolitical realities in South Asia.
