Pakistan holds emergency security meeting after trading strikes with Iran
Pakistan’s prime minister held an emergency security meeting on Friday with military and intelligence chiefs after trading deadly airstrikes with Iran on militant targets this week, reports AFP.
Iran carried out a missile and drone attack on what it called “terrorist” targets in Pakistan on Tuesday night, with Pakistan in turn striking militant targets inside Iran on Thursday.
Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, Pakistan’s caretaker prime minister summoned a meeting of the national security committee, with the chief of army staff and head of the intelligence services believed to be attending.
As the meeting began, Islamabad said foreign minister Jalil Abbas Jilani had spoken to his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian by phone.
“Jilani expressed Pakistan’s readiness to work with Iran on all issues based on a spirit of mutual trust and cooperation,” said a foreign ministry statement. “He underscored the need for closer cooperation on security issues.”
The muted rhetoric matched analysts’ predictions that both sides would seek to de-escalate the confrontation.
“The upshot of the new situation is that the two countries are seemingly and symbolically even,” said Antoine Levesques, of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. “The risks of further escalation are slight and maybe diminishing with time”.
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