India tears into Pakistan over Afghanistan strikes, says violence won't hide internal failures

India on Monday strongly criticized Pakistan’s reported airstrikes on Afghan territory, saying the attacks had caused civilian casualties and amounted to a direct danger to regional peace and stability.

In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs said, “This blatant act of aggression by Pakistan is an assault on Afghanistan's sovereignty and a direct threat to regional peace and stability.” The ministry also said the strikes reflected “Pakistan's persistent pattern of reckless behavior" and what it described as an attempt to shift attention from its internal failures through violence beyond its borders.

The statement added that India conveyed condolences to Afghan families who lost relatives and wished a speedy recovery for the injured.

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Afghan civilian toll and Kabul's protest

The Afghan side said the strikes had led to a serious civilian toll. According to the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Taliban-led government summoned the Pakistani charge d’affaires in Kabul and issued a “strong and resolute protest” over the attacks in eastern provinces.

The Afghan statement said the strikes violated Afghanistan’s airspace and targeted civilian homes in Kunar, Paktia, and Paktika provinces. It further alleged that 36 civilians, including women and children, were killed and 163 others injured. Kabul also accused Pakistan of blaming Afghanistan for its own security problems without evidence and condemned the attacks as a breach of international principles, humanitarian law, and national sovereignty.

Pakistan explains the strikes

Pakistan confirmed that it had carried out the strikes. According to Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, the security forces conducted a “well-planned intelligence-based ground operation” along with aerial strikes in the frontier zone.

The escalation came after a Saturday night attack on the provincial headquarters of the Pakistan Sindh Rangers in Karachi’s Gulistan-i-Jauhar area. The Sindh police chief told Dawn that three Pakistani paramilitary personnel and three attackers were killed after militants rammed the main gate with a vehicle and opened fire, triggering explosions and heavy gunfire.

An affiliate of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter group of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, later claimed responsibility for that attack, according to Al Jazeera.

Regional tensions deepen

The latest exchange has sharpened tensions across the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, with both sides presenting sharply different accounts of the operation and its consequences.

While Kabul has framed the strikes as an unlawful attack on civilians and a violation of sovereignty, Islamabad has tied its actions to security operations in the frontier region. India’s intervention adds a new diplomatic layer to the dispute, with New Delhi aligning itself publicly with Afghanistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The developments come amid continuing friction over cross-border militancy, retaliatory military action, and competing accusations between the two neighbors.

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FAQs

Q1: Why did India condemn Pakistan's airstrikes in Afghanistan?

Ans: India said the strikes violated Afghanistan's sovereignty and posed a direct threat to regional peace and stability.

Q2: What has Pakistan said about the airstrikes in Afghanistan?

Ans: Pakistan said its security forces carried out intelligence-based ground and aerial operations targeting security threats in the frontier region.