Defense Minister Asif has said his country is at open war with its western neighbor

The Taliban administration in Afghanistan has turned the country into an Indian "colony," Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif has said in the aftermath of Islamabad's military strikes on its western neighbor.

In a post on X on Friday, Asif said Pakistan and Afghanistan are in a state of "open war." Hispostcame hours after Pakistan bombed major cities in Afghanistan, including the capital Kabul.

"After the withdrawal of NATO forces, it was expected that there would be peace in Afghanistan and that the Taliban would focus on the interests of the Afghan people and peace in the region," Asif said. "However, the Taliban turned Afghanistan into a colony of India. They gathered all the terrorists of the world in Afghanistan and began exporting terrorism."

"Pakistan made every effort to keep the situation normal through direct means and through friendly countries. It engaged in full-fledged diplomacy. But the Taliban became a proxy for India," he alleged.

"Our cup of patience has overflowed. Now it is open war between us and you (Afghanistan)," Asif added.

India has yet to respond to the latest charges. Islamabad has also accused New Delhi of fanning the flames of its conflict with Kabul - allegations which India has repeatedly denied.

In August, 2021, a bus explosion that killed 13 people, including nine Chinese workers, was alsoblamedby Islamabad on India's external intelligence service - the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) - and Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security (NDS).

Last October, Kabul was hit by an explosion a few hours before ameetingbetween Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and his Indian counterpart, S Jaishankar. Local media outlets linked the blast to growing tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

India and Afghanistan agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations in October, four years after the Taliban came to power in the Central Asian country.

As tensions escalated between Pakistan and Afghanistan on Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi urged the neighbors to resolve their conflict through dialogue. "In the month of RAMADAN, Afghanistan and Pakistan should settle differences through neighborly DIALOGUE," he said in a post on X.

(RT.com)