Achakzai underlined that not only Pakistan will attack hideouts of anti-Pakistan terror outfits in the neighboring country, but it will also take control of the Wakhan Corridor, connecting Afghanistan with China.
"If another terrorist attack takes place in Pakistan, the Taliban have already been warned. There will be no other option. Pakistan will quickly enter Afghanistan and directly connect to Central Asia by capturing the Wakhan Corridor," the minister wrote in a post on X on Wednesday.
An X post by Jan Achakzai, the caretaker minister for Information and Public Relations in the Pakistani province of Balochistan
© Photo : X/ @Jan_Achakzai
The reaction from the Taliban did not take long: Abdul Hamid Khorasani, a controversial Tajik commander from Panjshir, responded to Achakzai's post, claiming that Pakistan's "own citizens, like the [Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP**]" could destabilize the government.
Relations between Kabul and Islamabad hit a nadir in decades, with the latter ordering air strikes inside Afghanistan earlier this week in response to the uptick in cross-border terrorism.
The two former allies have traded barbs on almost a regular basis, threatening each other with an escalation of hostilities.
Pakistan has repeatedly accused the Afghan Taliban* of being in cahoots with the proscribed TTP; Kabul has denied that claim.
*under UN sanctions
** terror outfit banned in Russia and other states
** terror outfit banned in Russia and other states