As fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan escalated into rare, bloody combat this month, Islamabad pointed fingers at another adversary, accusing India of fuelling the conflict.

Pakistan¡¯s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that New Delhi had ¡°incited¡± the Afghan Taliban, while his Defense Minister, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, described Kabul as acting like a ¡°proxy of India.¡±

Existential archrivals, Pakistan and India have fought repeated wars since partition cleaved the subcontinent at the end of British rule in 1947.