Source: Radio New Zealand
Asif Saeed Khan is the president of Pakistan Association of New Zealand. RNZ / Blessen Tom
The Pakistan Association of New Zealand is fearing that the conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan will affect the relationship between Pakistani and Afghan New Zealanders.
Pakistan bombed cities in Afghanistan, including the capital Kabul, on Friday.
Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif declared an “all-out confrontation” with the Taliban.
“Our patience has now run out. Now it is open war between us,” he said.
The Pakistan Association of New Zealand president Dr Asif Saeed Khan told RNZ that it was very unfortunate, and very much unexpected.
“They are very close to each other in terms of culture, religion, and all that.”
Khan said Pakistan and Afghanistan shared a border of more than 2500 kilometres, with people of Pashtun ethnicity living in both countries.
Pakistanis had supported Afghans for nearly 50 years, since the Cold War, Khan added.
“The war is a kind of a confusion in this regard.”
Taliban security personnel stand guard near the Torkham border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan in the Nangarhar province after Pakistan bombed major cities in Afghanistan. Aimal Zahir
However, the relationship between the Taliban-led Afghanistan and Pakistan has been volatile.
The latest violence erupted after Pakistan’s airstrikes on Afghan territory last weekend triggered Afghan retaliatory attacks along the border, escalating long-simmering tensions over Pakistan’s claim that Afghanistan shelters Pakistani Taliban militants, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.
Afghanistan denies this.
Pakistanis believed there was no other option but to stop the conflict, Khan said, especially as it was during the month of Ramadan.
Ramadan, in Islam, is the ninth month of the Muslim calendar – from 17 February to 19 March in 2026.
“The month of Ramadan is usually the month of peace… so it is a violation of that tradition… we are fighting, and we are creating havoc on each other,” Khan said.
He also feared that it would also cause conflict between Pakistani and Afghan New Zealanders if it did not stop.
“There is a kind of situation which is very dangerous in this land, that this will definitely impact their relationship as well.
“The Pakistanis living in New Zealand, and the Afghanis living in New Zealand, they are definitely creating a kind of a bad feeling and a mistrust kind of thing, because obviously, all those things which happen overseas, they have got an overlapping effect.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
