Amid routine threats and counter-threats, including a Pakistani Provincial Minister's warning of "invading" Afghanistan, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif has assured that his country doesn't want an armed conflict with its neighbour.
"We do not want to have an armed conflict with Afghanistan," Asif was reported as saying by Pakistani media outlet News International on Thursday.
His comments seem controversial given the previous remarks, in which Asif stated Pakistan would once again launch air strikes inside Afghanistan if cross-border terrorism did not stop from there.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are in the midst of a phase of tense relations after the former's air strikes on Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP*) sanctuaries in Afghanistan.
According to a Taliban** statement, a total of eight people were killed in the Central Asian sovereign state's Paktika and Khost provinces in the Pakistani action, drawing a strong reaction from the hardline Islamic movement.
*banned terrorist group
*^under UN sanctions