Pak Defence Minister Khawaja Asif calls Kabul ‘tool for India’ as peace talks fail

PTC News Desk: Pakistan Defence Minister Khwaja Asif Khawaja Asif has accused Kabul of acting as a tool for New Delhi while asserting that any attack on Islamabad would draw a befitting response, 50 times stronger.

Appearing on Geo News’ primetime show Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada ke Saath, Asif said an agreement was about to be reached with Afghanistan, but Afghan negotiators backpedaled due to intervention from Kabul during the recent talks held in Turkiye. 

Asif said that Taliban negotiators went back on the agreement “four or five times” after receiving instructions from Kabul.

“Whenever we got close to an agreement — either in the last four days or last week — when negotiators reported to Kabul, then there was intervention and the agreement was withdrawn,” he said.

He lauded Afghan delegation for hard negotiation but accused Kabul leadership of sabotaging talks under India's influence. “India wants to engage in a low-intensity war with Pakistan. To achieve this, they are using Kabul,” he said.

Earlier, Pak Defence Minister had warned that failure of peace talks can result in all -out war with Afghanistan. 

Earlier Pakistan authorities confirmed that peace talks with Taliban led Afghan leadership failed saying Kabul backtracked on commitments to control militancy. 

The four-day talks were hosted by Turkiye, where officials from Pakistan and Afghanistan attempted to find a common ground, however no consensus was reached. Pakistan’s Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Attaullah Tarar, confirmed the peace talks ended without a breakthrough.

The dialogue thus failed to bring about any workable solution,” Tarar said in a post on social media.