National Security Adviser (NSA) Dr Moeed Yusuf said on Thursday that Afghanistan was being embarrassed by "idiotic statements" from its senior officials who were deliberately trying to spoil its bilateral relations with Pakistan.

In a series of tweets, the NSA said it was unfortunate for Afghans that senior officials — acting as spoilers — were trying to "vitiate bilateral relations" between Pakistan and Afghanistan through "vitriolic and delusional statements" to avert "attention from their own failures".

"Afghanistan is being embarrassed daily due to these idiotic statements. Afghans should rest assured that everyone can see through the nefarious agenda of these spoilers.

"We will not let a handful of venomous minds affect Pakistan’s support to all Afghans for peace and stability," said Yusuf.

He said Pakistan remained "committed" to facilitating an inclusive political settlement in Afghanistan.

"In this spirit, Prime Minister Imran Khan agreed to meet President [Ashraf] Ghani recently to continue our engagement."

Last week, Prime Minister Imran Khan had hit back at President Ghani's claims about Pakistan's "negative role" in the Afghan peace process, adding that it was "unfair" to blame the country for the situation in Afghanistan.

"We have made every effort, short of taking military action against the Taliban in Pakistan, to get them on the dialogue table and to have a peaceful settlement [in Afghanistan].

"To blame Pakistan for what is going on in Afghanistan is extremely unfair," the premier had said in his comments at the international conference on "Central and South Asia Regional Connectivity: Challenges and Opportunities" during his two-day visit to Uzbekistan.

That same day on Friday, the Foreign Office had denied allegations by Afghan Vice President Amrullah Saleh that the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) had issued an official warning to Afghan security forces to repel any action by the latter to dislodge the Taliban from the border crossing of Spin Boldak.

The Afghan vice president had also claimed that PAF was providing air support to the Taliban.

Such allegations "undermine Pakistan’s sincere efforts to play its part in an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led solution" for restoring peace in Afghanistan, the FO had said in its response, stressing that "at this critical juncture, all energies are focused on achieving an inclusive, broad-based and comprehensive political settlement in Afghanistan".

Similarly, the FO had in May conveyed its serious concerns to Afghanistan regarding "irresponsible statements and baseless allegations" made by the Afghan leadership after Ghani claimed that Pakistan "operated an organised system of support" for the Taliban in an interview with a German publication.