Afghanistan asks Pakistan to explain shelling inside its territory

Expresses concern over arrest of Afghan refugees in Pakistan

KABUL: The Afghan government has asked Pakistan to explain its shelling inside the Afghan territory.

The Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement condemned Pakistani missile attacks inside Afghanistan which it said forced dozens of families to migrate to other places. It expressed concern over arrests of over a hundred Afghan refugees in Pakistan and said the neighbouring country should immediately open the border. 

The ministry said Kabul will use all its power in response to Pakistan if it did not stop rocket attacks on Afghanistan soil. “We hope that Pakistan stops the attacks and that the relationship between the two countries will return to normal. If not, Afghanistan will not sit silent, but will use its internal, regional and international power in response to Pakistan’s actions,” Faramarz Tamana, Director of Strategic Studies at Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said.

Meanwhile, Afghan Defence Ministry spokesman Daulat Waziri said they consider the attacks as aggression. He said Afghanistan reserves the right of retaliation if diplomatic channels failed to normalise the situation.