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Afghanistan-Pakistan issues should be resolved bilaterally, India has no role: Rajnath Singh
India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has reaffirmed New Delhi’s policy of non-interference amid rising tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan over security issues.
In an interview with Network18 Group Editor-in-Chief Rahul Joshi, Singh dismissed Pakistan’s allegations of Indian involvement in recent clashes, calling them “completely baseless and unsubstantiated.”
Singh emphasized that India’s foreign policy is rooted in peace and mutual respect. “We do not seek or encourage any kind of confrontation. We want peace in the world. We are in favour of peace. We will not provoke anyone or encourage conflict with anyone,” he said.
At the same time, he stressed India’s right to self-defense: “But if someone teases or provokes us, we will not spare them. We do not use crutches to defend our self-respect. We do it ourselves. We take decisions on our own and take required actions on our own.”
On the dispute between Afghanistan and Pakistan, Singh reiterated that the matter should be settled bilaterally through dialogue. “Whatever the issue, all the countries involved should sit down and settle it by negotiation,” he said.
Pakistani officials have consistently claimed that attacks in the country are organized by militants in Afghanistan, a claim that the Islamic Emirate denies.
Pakistan carried out attacks in Kabul and Paktika about a month ago, which led to deadly clashes between the two sides.
The two sides have held three rounds of talks, but the talks have been inconclusive.
The spokesperson of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Zabiullah Mujahid announced on Wednesday that the security and defense forces of the Islamic Emirate will temporarily halt the “Rad al-Zulm” defensive operation on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr and also at the request of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar.
Zabiullah Mujahid said in a post on X: “The Islamic Emirate, while appreciating the goodwill of friendly and mediating countries, emphasizes that maintaining Afghanistan’s national security, territorial integrity, and the safety of Afghan lives is its national and religious duty, and it will bravely respond to any aggression in case of a threat.”
Meanwhile, Ataullah Tarar, Pakistan’s Minister of Information and Broadcasting, also announced that Pakistan has temporarily suspended its attacks on Afghanistan for Eid al-Fitr at the request of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey.
A UN official told Reuters on Wednesday that the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) estimated the number of victims of the bombing of Kabul’s Omid hospital by Pakistan at 143 dead.
However, health officials in Afghanistan had earlier reported that the attack killed more than 400 people and injured 265.
Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai has accused Pakistan of trying to create “anarchy and weakness” in Afghanistan, following a deadly airstrike on Kabul.
In an interview with UK’s Sky News, Karzai said Islamabad’s policies were aimed at keeping Afghanistan unstable and “downtrodden,” warning that such an approach would harm both countries.
He condemned the recent strike on a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul, which Afghan officials say killed around 400 people, describing it as an “extremely unfortunate event” in the history of relations between the two neighbours.
Karzai said he personally heard the explosion, describing a “horrific sound” that shook his home and filled the surrounding area with smoke and dust.
The former leader, who governed Afghanistan from 2002 to 2014, said tensions between the two countries are longstanding, claiming Pakistan has struggled to maintain stable relations with successive Afghan governments.
He urged Pakistani leaders to change course and pursue a more constructive relationship, saying past strategies of interference and destabilisation had failed and would not succeed in the future.
Fighting between the two countries has intensified since late February, when Pakistan launched airstrikes it says targeted militant infrastructure. The United Nations estimates the violence has displaced more than 100,000 people.
Pakistan has denied targeting civilians, insisting its operations were aimed at militant sites and accusing Kabul of spreading “misleading” claims to deflect from alleged cross-Durand Line threats.
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