US President Donald Trump on Friday praised Pakistan’s military chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, while his administration backed Islamabad’s “right to defend itself” against “attacks” by Afghanistan’s Taliban.
Declaring an “open war”. Pakistan said it launched air strikes on cities in neighbouring Afghanistan on in the early hours Friday, responding to unprovoked firing by the Taliban on multiple locations along the border in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Chitral, Khyber, Mohmand, Kurram and Bajaur sectors on Thursday evening.
The Pakistani strikes – under Operation Ghazab lil-Haq – led to a major escalation after months of tit-for-tat skirmishes along their porous frontier.
Pakistani information minister Attaullah Tarar said his country’s forces hit defence targets in the Afghan capital Kabul, the southern city of Kandahar and the southeastern province of Paktia.
The Taliban government confirmed Friday’s air strikes, with spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid saying Afghan forces killed 55 Pakistani soldiers, while putting the death toll among Afghan troops at 13.
The head of the Pakistan military’s publicity wing, Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, told reporters “274 Taliban regime members and terrorists” had been killed, for the loss of 12 Pakistani troops.
Trump’s praise and US’s support for Pak’s ‘right to defend’
Trump, asked about the strikes on Afghanistan on Friday, hailed Pakistan’s military chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif as “great leader” and “great general”.
He said he would intervene but he gets along with Pakistan “very very well”, adding that he respects Munir and Sharif “a lot”.
“I would (intervene). But I get along with Pakistan very very well. They have a great Prime Minister, a great General. They have a great leader. Two of the people that I really respect a lot. Pakistan is doing terrifically well,” he said, speaking to reporters.
Listen in
Meanwhile, his admin on Friday said it supported Pakistan after it struck Afghanistan and declared war against its Taliban government following clashes.
“We continue to monitor the situation closely and expressed support for Pakistan’s right to defend itself against Taliban attacks,” Allison Hooker, the under secretary of state for political affairs, wrote on X after talks with a Pakistani counterpart.
She expressed to foreign secretary Amna Baloch, Pakistan’s senior-most career diplomat, US “condolences for lives lost in the recent conflict between Pakistan and the Taliban.”
While Hooker did not call for an end to the fighting in her statement, Britain earlier appealed for “de-escalation,” China called for a ceasefire and Iran offered to mediate.
