'We Know Where Pakistan Ends & Afghanistan Begins': Ex-Indian Envoy Slams Islamabad's Missile Claim | Exclusive
Amar Sinha, ex-Indian ambassador to Afghanistan, said Pakistan's Afghanistan policy is in shambles and nothing makes them squirm more than friendly relations between Kabul & Delhi
The latest claim by Pakistan’s military spokesperson, DG ISPR, about an Indian missile targeting Afghanistan—without specifying a location, region or any evidence—has stirred diplomatic dust.
While India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri issued a sharp rebuttal, pointing to Pakistan’s long record of making a series of efforts to destabilise Kabul, the question arises—What is Islamabad really aiming for with this sudden, unrelated and certainly vague yet loaded assertion? News18 spoke exclusively with Amar Sinha, a former Indian ambassador to Afghanistan, to understand the dynamics.
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Calling the military spokesperson’s statement related to Afghanistan as an attempt to create further geo-political confusion, Sinha, who served as India’s Ambassador to Afghanistan between 2013 and 2016, said: “It is just a shabby attempt at sowing confusion and has been roundly refuted by our Foreign Secretary. Clearly, Pakistan’s Afghanistan policy lies in shambles today, and nothing makes them squirm more than friendly and cordial relations between Kabul and Delhi."
He added: “Unfortunately, at least two generations of Afghans have grown up amid death and destruction caused by Pakistan. Afghans are not as naive and foolish as DG ISPR assumes. Indian action is limited to terror infrastructure and its ecosystem in Pakistan, and unlike Pakistan, we know where Pakistan ends and Afghanistan begins," said Sinha, who retired as secretary economic relations in the ministry of external affairs.
Kabul’s Denial
Meanwhile, the Afghan Defence Ministry spokesperson dismissed Pakistan’s claim of Indian missile strike. In an interview with Radio Azadi, Enayatullah Khwarazmi, spokesperson for Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defence, strongly denied Pakistan’s claim. When asked about Pakistan’s specific allegation, Khwarazmi said that “there is no truth to such claims".
No Longer Pakistan’s Proxy Playground
At face value, the statement by the Pakistani military spokesperson appears to be a calculated move. It does not seem about the missile itself but more about messaging.
“Pakistan knows and understands well that Afghanistan is a volatile theatre, and invoking an Indian aggression on Afghan soil serves dual purposes. It will discredit New Delhi’s regional standing, and test Kabul’s diplomatic alignment post-US withdrawal," said a source in the government, who does not want to be named.
Significantly, the timing is telling. With the Taliban government still navigating global legitimacy and India maintaining a careful yet consistent engagement with the new regime in Kabul through humanitarian aid and technical assistance, Pakistan’s claim appears to be an attempt to wedge itself into the narrative as Afghanistan’s ‘defender’, the source further added.
Pakistan’s diplomatic bandwidth has been stretched thin over the past few years with its economy in turmoil and its credibility on issues like terror financing constantly under scrutiny.
In that light, such statements are most likely to be attempts to divert global attention, shift the heat onto India, and potentially revive the old ‘victim’ posture in international forums. However, such a ‘shabby’ attempt, as Sinha called it, may not work as intended.
Afghanistan is no longer a pliable proxy space for Pakistan that may want to manipulate it with ease like earlier. The Taliban regime now has their own geopolitical aspirations and, crucially, are wary of being seen as pawns.
Meanwhile, India’s engagement with Kabul has been quiet but strategic—and more importantly, devoid of the overt interference that has long defined Islamabad’s policy.
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