In an apparent warning to Pakistan, Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai said on Saturday that Afghanistan has fighters who can act like “atomic bomb.”

“Today is not the day to work with Kalashnikov. Today, you will not work with M4. Today, you will have fast planes and drones. You will have weapons that the world will fear you,” Stanikzai said addressing a graduation ceremony in Kabul’s Loya Jirga hall. “Neighboring countries are proud of their weapons and claim that the Emirate is nothing in front of them. But we tell them that if you have named your rocket Ahmad and Mahmud, Ahmad and Mahmud themselves are here with us. If you have named your rocket Ghaznavi, Babur or Abdali, my country is full of Abdalis, Mahmuds and Abdalis. Each of them is an atomic bomb.”

Stanikzai warned that if Afghanistan sends “five sons of Mahmud, Abdali or Babur across the border, no one could stop them not even in the Indian Ocean.”

The official said that Afghan forces have successfully protected the country’s borders. “If the enemy has looked at it with an evil eye, they have plucked out their eye.”

The remarks come as Pakistan carried out airstrikes in Afghanistan’s Paktika province last month, killing dozens of people. Afghanistan retaliated targeting multiple points in Pakistan.

In his speech, Stanikzai also stressed on the importance of making Afghanistan’s economy self-reliant.

“Any country that is poor is a slave. This is a principle in the world. A hungry and poor person accepts the orders of the rich, and if he does not accept their orders, no one will give him bread. Today, if foreign countries and organizations set conditions in Afghanistan, it is because we are dependent on them. If we were economically self-reliant, we would tell everyone that we will not accept any of your conditions and you should not interfere, but unfortunately, we are dependent for even a sack of flour,” he said.