NEW DELHI, October 16. /TASS/. New Delhi is keeping a close eye on the situation on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, where armed clashes have taken place, Indian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at a briefing.
"We are closely monitoring the situation. <...> India remains fully committed to the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independence of Afghanistan," he pointed out.
"Three things are clear - one, that Pakistan hosts terrorist organizations and sponsors terrorist activities; two, it is an old practice of Pakistan to blame its neighbors for its own internal failures; and three, Pakistan is infuriated with Afghanistan exercising sovereignty over its own territories," Jaiswal added.
Shootouts took place in Afghanistan’s Helmand province on October 11. Later, the Afghan Air Force conducted a strike on the Pakistani city of Lahore. Taliban officials did not provide any details of the operation. Afghanistan’s TOLO News TV channel claimed that the clashes killed at least 58 Pakistani service members. Islamabad, in turn, said that at least 200 militants had been eliminated, 19 terrorist facilities had been destroyed in Afghanistan, from which shelling attacks had been carried out, and the headquarters of an Afghan tank battalion providing support to extremists involved in an attack on Pakistan had also been targeted.
On October 15, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said that Islamabad and Kabul had reached a temporary agreement on a 48-hour ceasefire. However, border clashes continued.