Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has said that after the withdrawal of Nato forces, it was expected that there would be peace in Afghanistan and the Taliban would focus on the interests of the Afghan people and peace in the region.

“But the Taliban made Afghanistan a colony of India. They gathered terrorists from all over the world in Afghanistan and started exporting terrorism,” he said.

He said that Pakistan made every effort to keep the situation normal, directly and through friendly countries. “However, the Taliban became a proxy for India,” he said.

He added that Pakistan’s forces had given a decisive response to aggression from the Afghan Taliban.

He said that Pakistan’s role in the past had been “positive”, highlighting the country’s hosting of Afghan refugees.

“Our patience has run out. Now there is an open war,” he said.