Pakistan ready for two-front war with India and Afghanistan: Khaja Asif

Darwin, 14 November— Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said Islamabad is “fully prepared” to fight on two fronts against India and Afghanistan, in comments made amid heightened tensions following a deadly explosion in the Pakistani capital that killed 12 people.

In an interview with Geo News, Khawaja Asif said Pakistan was ready to face both its eastern and western borders. “We are ready; we are prepared to meet both the eastern (India) and western (Afghanistan) frontiers,” he said. “In the first round Allah helped us and He will help us in the second round as well.”

Asif warned that if Pakistan’s rivals seek a final confrontation, the country would have no option but to go to war. He also cautioned Kabul, accusing Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban and other Afghan-based groups of sheltering militants who have carried out violence inside Pakistan. “They have given shelter to the attackers and forced Islamabad to carry out strikes into Afghanistan,” he said, according to the interview.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has alleged that some India-backed groups were involved in the Islamabad explosion. However, a statement from the Pakistani militant group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Asif portrayed Afghanistan’s leadership as fractured — saying there is no united government in Kabul and that various Taliban factions pursue different agendas and interests. He alleged links between some Afghan factions and India, adding: “Some elements among them have connections with India and others are being pulled from elsewhere. So I believe these two attacks could have been launched from Afghanistan. In reality this is Indian aggression being carried out on our soil via Afghanistan.”

Warning both India and Afghanistan against creating an undesirable situation, the defence minister said Pakistan would deliver a similar retaliatory response if provoked. “Pakistan never initiates military aggression, but we will not tolerate aggression. We will respond strongly,” he said.

What happened in Islamabad

The remarks come after an explosion in Islamabad that killed 12 people. Authorities are investigating the blast and various political and security figures have publicly blamed external actors for the violence. The situation has significantly raised tensions between Islamabad and its neighbours.

(Reporting based on Khawaja Asif’s interview and subsequent statements from Pakistani officials and militant groups.)