Pak warns Kabul of 'stern response'

Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif warned Afghanistan on Wednesday that any new "terrorist or suicide attack" by militants on Pakistani soil would draw a stern response, hours after talks between them in Istanbul failed to secure a peace agreement. Truce negotiations concluded in Istanbul without a "workable solution," Pakistan's infor-

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Defence minister says Pakistan will strike even inside Afghanistan if terrorism continues; Tarar thanks Qatar, Turkey and other friendly countries 'for their support'

mation minister said early on Wednesday, in a blow for peace in the region after this month's deadly clashes.

Pakistan reacted with fury to the failure of the talks, which sources said ended with a disagreement over militant groups allegedly using Afghanistan as a base to attack its security forces along their border.

The two sides agreed to a ceasefire brokered by countries including Qatar on Oct. 19 in Doha, followed by four days of talks in Istanbul that ended inconclusively.

In a post on X, Asif told Afghanistan's Taliban government that "any terrorist attack or suicide bombing inside Pakistan shall give you the bitter taste of such misadventures."

"If Afghan soil is used for terrorism, we will respond," Asif said. "If the border is violated, we will also attack. And if we have to respond by going inside Afghanistan, we will do 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," Asif tweeted.