The Foreign Office (FO) on Thursday said that Pakistani forces conduct “operations in border areas to protect the people of Pakistan from terrorist groups”, a day after the Taliban administration accused the country of carrying out an airstrike on its territory.

Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been strained due to frequent border skirmishes and Islamabad repeatedly demanding Kabul to take action against the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) for using Afghan soil to launch attacks in Pakistan. Kabul denies the allegations.

The FO spokesperson’s statement — the first formal word by the government on the matter — comes after Pakistan carried out air strikes in the neighbouring country on Tuesday, which security officials said targeted several suspec­ted terrorists.

Pakistan’s security officials late on Tuesday night had said that fighter jets bombed four locations, said to be TTP camps, in Afghanistan’s eastern Pak­tika province, targeting and neutralising several suspected terrorists.

Subsequently, the Afghan Taliban regime lodged a strong protest with Islamabad over an airstrike, warning that Afghanistan’s territorial sovereignty was the red line for the ruling Islamic Emirate.

In a written statement issued in response to a Dawn.com query, the FO said: “Our security and law enforcement personnel conduct operations in border areas to protect the people of Pakistan from terrorist groups. These counterterrorism operations are carefully selected and based on accurate intelligence.”

The official stressed that Pakistan had “always prioritised dialogue in matters relating to ties with Afghanistan”.

“We respect Afghanistan’s integrity and sovereignty,” she asserted.

Stating that protecting its citizens was Pakistan’s top priority, the FO spokesperson reiterated that there were “threats posed by terrorist elements to Pakistan and its citizens”.

“Pakistan is committed to the security of its public,” Baloch said.

Baloch added that Special Representative Sadiq Khan met several Afghan officials in Kabul and that the two countries remain in touch to “discuss security, border management, trade and many other issues”.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson emphasised that social media messages “coming from terrorists” cannot be believed.

“We do not communicate with other countries through the media,” she said. “Pakistan has clear communication channels with the Afghan administration. We have been in continuous contact with Afghanistan for the last two days.”

Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s foreign ministry said it summoned the Charge d’Affaires of the Pakistani Embassy in Kabul on Wednesday afternoon and handed over a formal protest note regarding the bombing “near the Durand Line in the Bermal district of Paktika province”.

The ministry, in its statement, said the “violation” was condemned and alleged that the move was “an attempt by certain Pakistani factions to create distrust between the two countries” as the two sides engaged in talks.

UN demands investigation

Meanwhile, the UN mission to Afghanistan called for an investigation into the air strikes.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (Unama) said it had “received credible reports that dozens of civilians, including women and children, were killed in airstrikes by Pakistan’s military forces in Paktika province, Afghanistan, on 24 December”.

“International law obliges military forces to take necessary precautions to prevent civilian harm,” the agency said in a statement, adding an “investigation is needed to ensure accountability”.

Past escalations

Back in March, the FO confirmed Pakistan had carried out “intelligence-based anti-terrorist operations” inside the border regions of Afghanistan, hours after Kabul said airstrikes conducted on its soil had killed eight people.

FO said the prime targets of the operation conducted in the morning earlier today were terrorists belonging to the Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group, adding that the outfit, along with the TTP, was responsible for multiple terrorist attacks inside Pakistan, resulting in “deaths of hundreds of civilians and law enforcement officials”.

It said that the latest attack of such an instance took place on March 17 at a security post in Mir Ali in North Waziristan which claimed the lives of seven Pakistani soldiers.

In July, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif told BBC in an interview that Pakistan will “continue to launch attacks against Afghanistan as part of a new military operation aimed at countering terrorism”.

“It’s correct that we have been carrying out operations in Afghanistan, and we will continue to do so. We won’t serve them with cake and pastries. If attacked, we’ll attack back,” Asif had told the outlet.

With additional input from AFP.