‘Will push them back into caves…tails between their legs’: Pak minister says will ‘obliterate’ Afghan Taliban

Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif boasted of his country’s military arsenal on Wednesday and said it would completely obliterate the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and push them back to the caves while reminding them of “their rout at Tora Bora with their tails between the legs”. In a post on X, Asif warned the Afghan Taliban that another attack on Pakistani soil would prompt Pakistan to “wipe them out” and force them “back into the caves.” Asif's warning after a four-day dialogue in Istanbul failed to produce any breakthrough on Pakistan’s key demand—that the Taliban take firm action against militants using Afghan territory to launch attacks in Pakistan.

He said Pakistan had agreed to the talks at the request of “brotherly countries” to give peace a chance but added that “venomous statements by certain Afghan officials clearly reflect the devious and fractured mindset of the Taliban regime.”

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“Let me assure them that Pakistan does not require to employ even a fraction of its full arsenal to completely obliterate the Taliban regime and push them back to the caves for hiding. If they wish so, the repeat of the scenes of their rout at Tora Bora with their tails between the legs would surely be a spectacle to watch for the people of the region,” Asif said in a derogatory remark.

He said the warmongers amongst the Taliban regime have vested interests in continued instability, but they have probably misread Pakistan’s resolve and courage.

‘Their threats are only performative circus!’

Asif said if the Taliban regime wants to fight, “The world will INSHAALLAH (God willing) see that their threats are only performative circus!”

“We have borne your treachery and mockery for too long, but no more. Any terrorist attack or any suicide bombing inside Pakistan shall give you the bitter taste of such misadventures. Be rest assured and test our resolve and capabilities, if you wish so, at your own peril and doom,” he said.

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Responding to the Afghan narrative that it has defeated several empires, Asif said, “As far as the narrative of ‘graveyard of empires’, Pakistan certainly doesn’t claim to be an empire, but Afghanistan is definitely a graveyard, surely for its own people. Never a graveyard of empires but certainly a playground of empires you have been throughout history,” he said.

The Pakistan minister said that the Taliban regime is “blindly pushing Afghanistan into yet another conflict” just to retain its usurped rule and maintain the war economy that sustains them.”

“If the Afghan Taliban regime is madly hell-bent upon ruining Afghanistan and its innocent people once again, then so be it,” he warned.

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Pak-Afghan peace talks collapse in Istanbul

Asif’s remarks came hours after a pre-dawn announcement by Pakistan Information Minister Attaullah Tarar about the collapse of latest round of talks in Istanbul. He blamed the Taliban government in Kabul for refusing to take action against militants accused of carrying out deadly cross-border attacks.

An earlier round in Doha had resulted in a temporary ceasefire on October 19. Pakistan accuses the Taliban of providing shelter to militants linked to a rise in attacks across its border, but Kabul denies that Afghan territory is being used to launch assaults against Pakistan.

Kabul has blamed Pakistan for the failed peace talks in Turkey after Islamabad did not agree “to stop violating Afghan airspace and prevent US drone flights.”