Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has accused the Afghan government in Kabul of acting as a “puppet” of India, sharply warning that any attack on Islamabad would be met with a response “fifty times stronger.” His remarks came after peace talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan broke down in Turkey earlier this week, further straining relations between the two neighbours.
Speaking on Geo News’ primetime show Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada ke Saath, Asif said that leaders in Kabul were being “controlled by Delhi” and were deliberately sabotaging efforts to maintain peace. “The people in Kabul pulling the strings and staging the puppet show are being controlled by Delhi,” Asif said. He alleged that India was using Afghanistan to compensate for what he described as “its defeat” on the western border.
According to reports in Dawn, the peace talks held in Turkey between representatives of both countries failed after the Afghan side allegedly withdrew from key agreements multiple times. Asif said, “Whenever we got close to an agreement and negotiators went back to Kabul, the decision was reversed due to interference.” 
The minister claimed that while the Afghan delegation engaged seriously in the dialogue, their top leadership was working under India’s influence. “India wants to continue a low-intensity war with Pakistan through Kabul,” he added.
The discussions, facilitated by Turkey and Qatar, aimed to ease border tensions and reach a long-term truce. However, the talks ended on Monday without any breakthrough. Sources familiar with the negotiations said that although several points were settled, the two countries could not agree on a framework for verifiable action against terrorist groups, particularly the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which Pakistan accuses of operating freely from Afghan soil.
Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar also issued a statement confirming that the Istanbul talks had failed. “The Afghan side kept deviating from the main issue, evading the key point on which the dialogue was initiated,” Tarar said. “Instead of accepting any responsibility, the Afghan Taliban resorted to blame games and deflection.”
Earlier, both nations had agreed to a temporary ceasefire in Doha on October 19 after several deadly clashes along the border that killed soldiers and civilians on both sides. The truce, however, did not hold for long, with fresh tensions erupting before the latest round of talks.
