Pakistan President Zardari: Strikes on Afghanistan Were ‘Right’ to Self-Defense
Pakistan’s president defended recent airstrikes in eastern Afghanistan, calling them a legitimate response to cross-border militancy amid rising tensions.
Asif Ali Zardari said the latest air raids on parts of Nangarhar and Paktika provinces reflect Pakistan’s “right” to defend its people against cross-border terrorism.
Citing a recent report by the United Nations Security Council, Zardari warned that those responsible for bloodshed inside Pakistan “will not remain beyond reach.”
The Taliban administration, however, described the strikes as an act of aggression and an attack on civilians, claiming more than 20 non-combatants, including women and children, were killed in Behsud district of Nangarhar.
Local residents and preliminary reports also spoke of civilian casualties in the affected districts, though exact figures remain contested and independently unverified.
Pakistani officials maintain that nearly 70 militants were killed in the strikes inside Afghanistan territory. Fighter jets reportedly bombed areas in Khogyani, Ghani Khil and Behsud districts of Nangarhar, as well as Barmal district of Paktika, around midnight on Saturday.
In response, the Taliban’s defense ministry said it would deliver a “calculated response at an appropriate time,” accusing Pakistan’s military of targeting civilian and religious sites.
Pakistan’s information ministry earlier described the airstrikes as retaliatory, following recent suicide and car bomb attacks on a Shiite mosque in Islamabad, Bajaur and Bannu during Ramadan.
Responsibility for those attacks inside Pakistan was claimed by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Islamic State Khorasan branch.
With sharply differing casualty claims and mounting rhetoric on both sides, the cross-border escalation threatens to further strain already fragile ties between Kabul and Islamabad.
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