International News
Pakistan fears losing more than diplomatic ground with Kabul turning to India
New Delhi, Oct 10: Pakistan could never imagine that a group it once raised and used to spread terror in neighbouring countries would one day run a government and realise that diplomacy does not flow out of the barrel of a gun.
When on the receiving end, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif stated that Islamabad has “run out” of patience over the use of Afghan soil by “terrorists targeting Pakistan”.
He has also made a bizarre statement, claiming that Afghans have always stood beside India “yesterday, today, and tomorrow”.
If indeed his country had offered support to Afghan refugees, it was to raise a militia, not out of compassion. And all these rhetorics come when Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi is visiting India.
Pakistan has itself soured its relationship with the Taliban, attacking Afghanistan’s border areas, even resorting to aerial bombing, and driving back thousands of refugees from its land to an uncertain future.
Kabul has always refused to recognise the Durand Line – then hurriedly drawn by British occupiers – as a legitimate border.
The porous areas have witnessed intermittent skirmishes, affecting trade and transit. After the withdrawal of US-led troops, Islamabad expected the Taliban to remain eternally grateful and jump to its bidding, but the regime’s assertiveness has disrupted that. Kabul’s diplomatic overtures towards New Delhi have unsettled Pakistan.
While India does not officially recognise the Taliban regime, its pragmatic engagement signals a shift in Kabul’s foreign policy orientation. For Pakistan, this represents a strategic loss and a potential threat.
India’s growing ties with Kabul, combined with its strategic partnership with Iran, amplify these fears.
Possible increase in India’s diplomatic and trade relation with nations in Pakistan’s immediate neighbourhood blow winds of caution for Islamabad.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s economic ties with Afghanistan have also suffered, with border closures, refugee deportations, and diplomatic tensions having disrupted transit routes.
India’s investment in alternative corridors like the International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC) and Chabahar bypasses Pakistan entirely.
But following the re-imposition of sanctions against Iran and the Chabahar Port in particular, foreign companies became reluctant to participate in the port’s expansion.
India took over operations in 2018, and used it for trade with Iran and other countries, and also send relief materials to Kabul. Islamabad is eyeing Muttaqi’s India visit warily, fearing diplomatic isolation, where, with India engaging Afghanistan, Iran, and other Central Asian nations, Pakistan risks being left out of regional dialogues.
Increased Indian presence could lead to constricting its operations in intelligence gathering, surveillance, and influence over the region. Thus, Afghanistan’s tilt towards India adds pressure on Pakistan’s western flank.
The Taliban’s refusal to act as Islamabad’s proxy and India’s growing goodwill among Afghans have reshaped the strategic landscape. Pakistan’s view of India’s advantage in Afghanistan is shaped by a sense of strategic reversal.
What was once a zone of influence has become a source of insecurity.
India’s soft-power diplomacy, infrastructure investments, and pragmatic engagement with the Taliban have allowed it to gain ground practically without boots on the ground.
Islamabad now faces two main challenges – managing deteriorating ties with the Taliban and countering India’s expanding influence. But given utterances like those by Khawaja Asif, both seem distant for Pakistan.
As regional dynamics evolve, Afghanistan will remain a critical point in South Asia’s geopolitical chessboard – one where Pakistan’s traditional playbook may no longer suffice.
Tehran, May 5: Five civilians were killed in US attacks on cargo boats, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Tuesday.
Following the claim by the US military that it had targeted six Iranian speedboats, and given that none of Iran’s combat vessels was hit, local sources were consulted to verify the nature of the incident, according to Xinhua, which quoted the report.
It was determined that US forces had attacked two small civilian cargo boats, which were travelling from Khasab along the Omani coast toward Iran, killing five civilian passengers onboard, it said.
Brad Cooper, chief of US Central Command, said on Monday that the US military had sunk six Iranian small boats in the Strait of Hormuz.
The Iranian boats were struck by US Apache and MH-60 Seahawk helicopters, Cooper told a news conference.
Meanwhile, two US Navy destroyers have passed through the Strait of Hormuz and entered the Gulf after navigating an Iranian barrage, US media outlet CBS News reported.
The USS Truxtun and USS Mason, supported by Apache helicopters and other aircraft, faced a series of coordinated threats during the passage, said the report, citing Pentagon officials, who spoke under condition of anonymity, on Monday night (local time).
No US warship was struck, though Iran launched small boats, missiles and drones against them as a sustained barrage, the officials were quoted as saying.
None of the projectiles launched by Iran reached the US vessels, they said, adding that the US military’s assisting efforts, bolstered by air support, successfully intercepted or deterred each incoming threat, reports Xinhua news agency.
US President Donald Trump told Fox News on Monday that the Iranians are “more malleable” than they were before.
In a phone interview with Fox News, the president threatened that if Iran targets US ships in the Strait of Hormuz as the Pentagon begins operations to restore commercial shipping transit through the strait, they would be “blown off the face of the Earth.”
However, in another phone interview with ABC News on Monday, Trump stopped short of saying Iran’s Monday attacks had violated the US-Iran ceasefire.
“[It was] not heavy firing,” Trump said, downplaying the attacks.
Brad Cooper, chief of the US Central Command, told reporters earlier on Monday that Iranian forces had launched “multiple cruise missiles, drones, and small boats at ships we are protecting.”
US forces have sunk six Iranian small boats targeting civilian vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and intercepted several Iranian missiles and drones, said Cooper.
Iran later rejected the US claims, saying that “no commercial vessels or oil tankers” have transited the Strait of Hormuz, the semi-official Tasnim News Agency reported.
On February 28, the United States and Israel launched joint strikes on Tehran and other Iranian cities, killing then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, senior military commanders and civilians. Iran responded with waves of missile and drone attacks on Israel and US targets across the region and restricted passage through the Strait of Hormuz for vessels linked to Israel and the United States.
A ceasefire took effect on April 8, followed by talks between Iranian and US delegations in Islamabad that ended without a deal.
Tehran, May 4: The Navy of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) on Monday claimed that it hit a US Navy frigate with two missiles that sought to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.
The US frigate, which had set sail near Iran’s southern port city of Jask to cross the Strait of Hormuz “in violation of the traffic and shipping security,” was hit after ignoring the Iranian naval forces’ warning, Fars cited local sources as saying.
It added that after being struck, the frigate was forced to retreat and flee from the region.
However, according to a subsequent report by Axios, a senior US official denied that a US ship was hit by Iranian missiles, Xinhua news agency reported.
Iran has repeatedly announced that no movement is possible through the Strait of Hormuz without its official permission, and ignoring this warning will be met with a decisive response from the Iranian armed forces, according to Fars.
US President Donald Trump said Sunday the United States will guide ships stranded in the Strait of Hormuz safely out of the restricted waterway on Monday.
In response to Trump’s claim, Iran’s main military command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, warned on Monday that “any foreign armed forces, especially the aggressive US army, will be attacked if they intend to approach and enter the Strait of Hormuz,” according to the official news agency IRNA.
Iran tightened its grip on the Strait of Hormuz beginning February 28, when it barred safe passage to vessels belonging to or affiliated with Israel and the United States following joint strikes on Iranian territory.
The United States imposed its anti-Iran blockade on the Strait of Hormuz after post-ceasefire negotiations with Tehran on April 11 and 12 failed to lead to an agreement.
Tehran, May 3: Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei condemned US President Donald Trump’s remarks that called the US seizure of Iranian vessels “piracy.”
“The president of the United States has openly described the unlawful seizure of Iranian vessels as ‘piracy,’ brazenly boasting that ‘we act like pirates,'” Baghaei said in an X post.
“This was no verbal slip. It was a direct and damning admission of the criminal nature of their actions against international maritime navigation,” Baghaei added.
Trump on Friday bragged that the US Navy acted “like pirates” in its blockade of Iranian ports. “We took over the ship, we took over the cargo, we took over the oil. It’s a very profitable business,” Trump said at an event in Florida, Xinhua news agency reported.
Baghaei called on the international community, UN member states, and the UN secretary-general to firmly reject any normalization of such “blatant violations” of international law.
The United States imposed its anti-Iran blockade on the Strait of Hormuz after post-ceasefire negotiations with Tehran in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad on April 11-12 failed to yield an agreement.
The ceasefire between Iran, the United States and Israel took effect on April 8 following 40 days of fighting. On February 28, the United States and Israel launched joint attacks on Tehran and other Iranian cities, killing Iran’s then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, senior commanders and civilians.
Iran responded with waves of missile and drone strikes targeting Israel and US bases and assets in the Middle East, while tightening its grip on the Strait of Hormuz and denying safe passage to vessels linked to Israel and the United States.
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