India has “unequivocally” condemned the recent airstrikes by Pakistani military aircraft which killed innocent civilians in Afghanistan, with a statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Monday (January 6, 2025) describing Pakistan’s attempts to blame its neighbours as “an old practice” to hide its own failures.

The statement comes days after Pakistani military aircraft bombed several locations in Afghanistan’s eastern region, leaving at least 46 dead. Those killed in the attack, carried out on December 26, 2025, include women and children. 

Responding to media queries regarding the airstrikes, MEA Official Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “We have noted the media reports on airstrikes on Afghan civilians, including women and children, in which several precious lives have been lost.”

Condemning the attack on the innocent civilians, Jaiswal strongly rejected Pakistan’s attempt to put the blame on its neighbours. “We unequivocally condemn any attack on innocent civilians. It is an old practice of Pakistan to blame its neighbours for its own internal failures,” the MEA Spokesperson stated.

The MEA had also noted the response of an Afghan spokesperson in this regard, he added.

Recent weeks have seen airstrikes by Pakistani warplanes inside Afghanistan, heightening tensions between the two neighbours and in the region. 

News reports have quoted Pakistani officials as claiming that the strikes were aimed at targeting militants’ hideouts in Afghanistan. “The intelligence-based operation was conducted by Pakistani security forces in the border areas of Afghanistan,” Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said at a press briefing. She added that the operation was carried out based on threats to the security of Pakistani citizens.

Afghanistan has, however, rejected these claims with a Taliban government spokesperson maintaining that those killed in the strikes were refugees. Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry said Kabul will not accept the violation of the country’s territory under any circumstances and was ready to defend its independence and territory.