Islamabad warns Kabul: Test our resolve at your own peril and doom

Dubai: Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Wednesday issued a blistering warning to the Taliban rulers in Kabul, declaring that any attempt to test Islamabad’s resolve would be “at your own peril and doom.”

His remarks came hours after the collapse of peace talks in Istanbul, the latest effort to address cross-border terrorism from Afghan soil.

The breakdown of the dialogue — mediated by Qatar and Turkey — was confirmed in a pre-dawn post by Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, who said the talks “failed to bring about any workable solution.”

The negotiations followed an earlier round in Doha that had produced a ceasefire on October 19, after deadly border clashes left dozens dead, including soldiers, civilians, and militants.

Despite the collapse, the ceasefire remained intact, and no fresh skirmishes were reported along the Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier. Pakistan accuses the Taliban of harboring militants responsible for a surge in attacks inside its territory — a charge Kabul denies.

The United Nations expressed concern over the failure of the talks.

“Yes, it is, of course. We very much hope that even if the talks are on pause, the fighting will not renew,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters at the regular noon briefing in New York, according to APP.

In a strongly worded post on social media platform X, Asif accused the Taliban regime of deceit and warmongering, warning of severe retaliation in the event of further attacks.

“We have borne your treachery and mockery for too long, but no more. Any terrorist attack or any suicide bombing inside Pakistan shall give you the bitter taste of such misadventures. Be rest assured and test our resolve and capabilities, if you wish so, at your own peril and doom,” he wrote.

The minister said Pakistan entered talks at the request of “brotherly countries” seeking peace, but that “venomous statements by certain Afghan officials clearly reflect the devious and splintered mindset of Taliban regime.”

“Let me assure them that Pakistan does not require to employ even a fraction of its full arsenal to completely obliterate the Taliban regime and push them back to the caves for hiding. If they wish so, the repeat of the scenes of their rout at Tora Bora with their tails between the legs would surely be a spectacle to watch for the people of the region,” he said.

Asif accused the Taliban rulers of “blindly pushing Afghanistan into yet another conflict, just to retain its usurped rule and maintain the war economy that sustains them.”

“Despite fully knowing their inherent limitations and hollowness of their war cries, they are beating the war drums to maintain their crumbling facade. If the Afghan Taliban regime is madly hell-bent upon ruining Afghanistan and its innocent people once again, then so be it,” he added.

Referring to the oft-cited phrase “graveyard of empires” used for Afghanistan, Asif said: “As far as the narrative of ‘graveyard of empires’, Pakistan certainly doesn’t claim it to be an empire but Afghanistan is definitely a graveyard, surely for its own people. Never a graveyard of empires but certainly a playground of empires you have been throughout history.”

He further warned that the “war mongers amongst the Taliban regime, who have vested interests in the continuation of instability in the region, should know that they have probably misread our resolve and courage.”

“If the Taliban regime wants to fight us, the world will Insha Allah (God willing) see that their threats are only performative circus!”

-- With AP & AFP inputs