Taliban shuts door on Pakistan: Kabul denies visas to Khawaja Asif and ISI chief thrice

Minister of Defence of Pakistan Khawaja Asif (L); ISI DG Asim Mailk (R)

In a major diplomatic snub to Islamabad, Afghanistan has reportedly denied entry to Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, ISI chief Asim Malik, and two senior Pakistani generals, rejecting their visa requests not once, but three times in as many days, according to TOLOnews sources.

The repeated rejections mark a sharp deterioration in relations between Kabul and Islamabad, effectively stalling Pakistan’s latest efforts to initiate high-level talks with the Taliban regime amid escalating border tensions.

Afghanistan's Taliban forces launched attacks on Pakistani troops along their shared border late on Saturday, in what it called "retaliation for air strikes carried out by the Pakistani army on Kabul" on Thursday.

Islamabad has not directly claimed responsibility for the strikes, but has repeatedly stated the right to defend itself against surging militancy that it says is planned from Afghan soil.

The two sides have repeatedly clashed in border regions since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in 2021, but airspace violations deep into Afghan territory would mark a significant escalation.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban government spokesman, said on Sunday that 58 Pakistani soldiers were killed and around 30 wounded in the clashes, while nine Taliban forces were killed.

The Pakistani military, meanwhile, said 23 of its soldiers and more than 200 Taliban and affiliated troops were killed.

Militancy increased in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since the withdrawal of US-led troops from neighbouring Afghanistan in 2021 and the return of the Taliban government.

The vast majority of attacks are claimed by the Pakistani Taliban (TTP), whose campaign against Pakistan security forces has intensified this year -- set to be the deadliest in more than a decade.

Violence in the border region has "plunged relations between the neighbours to an all-time low", said Maleeha Lodhi, a former senior Pakistani diplomat.

"But there will have to be a return to diplomacy to find a resolution to the confrontation," she told AFP.

The TTP is a separate but closely linked group to the Afghan Taliban, which Islamabad says operates from Afghan soil with impunity.

A UN report this year said the TTP "receive substantial logistical and operational support from the de facto authorities", referring to the Taliban government in Kabul.

More than 500 people, including 311 troops and 73 policemen, have been killed in attacks between January and September 15, a Pakistan military spokesman said on Friday.

Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told parliament on Thursday that several efforts to convince the Afghan Taliban to stop backing the TTP had failed.

"Enough is enough," he said. "The Pakistani government and army's patience has run out."