Pak's defence minister threatens to 'obliterate' Afghan Taliban and push them back to caves

Islamabad | Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Wednesday threatened to "obliterate" the Afghan Taliban and push them back to the caves in case of any future terror attack in his country, as ties between the two neighbours hit rock bottom after peace talks failed.

Asif issued the warning on social media soon after the four-day peace talks in Istanbul failed to yield any result regarding Pakistan's main demand that the Taliban should take action against militants using Afghanistan's soil for militancy in Pakistan.

Asif said that on the request of brotherly countries, Pakistan indulged in talks to give peace a chance, but “venomous statements by certain Afghan officials clearly reflect the devious and splintered mindset of the 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 on X.

He said that the warmongers amongst the Taliban regime, who have vested interests in the continuation of instability in the region, should know that they have probably misread Pakistan's resolve and courage.

Asif said if the Taliban regime wants to fight, “the world will INSHAALLAH (God willing) see that their threats are only performative circus!” "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 said.

Asif also commented on the popular Afghan narrative that it defeated empires.

"As far as the narrative of ‘graveyard of empires', Pakistan certainly doesn't claim 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 said.

The minister said that it is sad to see how the Taliban regime is blindly pushing Afghanistan into yet another conflict “just to retain its usurped rule and maintain the war economy that sustains them”.

He said that despite fully knowing their inherent limitations and “hollowness of their war cries”, the Taliban are “beating the war drums to maintain their crumbling façade”.

“If the Afghan Taliban regime is madly hell bent upon ruining Afghanistan and its innocent people once again, then so be it,” he warned.

The ominous statement came after the Istanbul talks failed, igniting fears of war between the two sides.

Meanwhile, the United Nations voiced concern over the collapse of talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan, hoping that the “fighting will not renew”, the state-run APP news agency reported.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric was asked about the collapse of the negotiations and whether it was a concern for the UN.

"Yes, it is, of course. We very much hope that even if the talks are on pause, the fighting will not renew,” he told reporters at UN Headquarters in New York.

After the failure of talks, the security sources in Pakistan said that the security of its people is of paramount importance to Pakistan.