'We don't want them targeted': Rubio flags Pakistan's concerns over terror attacks from Afghanistan

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has acknowledged Pakistan's concerns over alleged cross-border terrorism originating from Afghanistan, saying Washington does not want Islamabad to become a target of militant attacks. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Atlanta, Rubio said Pakistan believed the Afghan Taliban had failed to prevent militant groups from operating out of Afghan territory. "Pakistan is concerned about terrorist attacks that are being sponsored from the territory of Afghanistan. They think that the Taliban has not done enough to constrain those attacks," Rubio said. He added that Pakistan had taken action in response to the security threat. "We don't want them to be targeted by terrorism," he said. Pakistan-Afghanistan tensions escalate after border strikes Rubio's remarks come amid renewed military tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan, with Islamabad launching retaliatory strikes against Afghan Taliban border posts and military installations following reported cross-border firing. Pakistan's state-run Radio Pakistan reported on Friday that Afghan Taliban forces had opened what it described as "unprovoked" fire in the Angoor Adda area of South Waziristan on October 27. Pakistani forces subsequently retaliated, the report said. The strikes reportedly targeted border posts, defensive positions and military installations following firing incidents in South Waziristan and the Parachinar area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. However, the two sides have offered conflicting accounts of the escalation. Afghanistan's defence ministry accused Pakistan of initiating the attacks, alleging that Pakistani forces had carried out four drone strikes targeting the Angoor Adda market and a commission in Afghanistan's Baktika province on October 28. Kabul said its forces retaliated by targeting Pakistani military headquarters and nearby positions, claiming that several Pakistani soldiers were killed or wounded. These claims could not be independently verified.