Pakistan’s Armed Forces carried out intelligence-based operations (IBOs) in the border regions inside Afghanistan against terrorist outfits launching attacks on Pakistan’s LEAs and innocent people from Afghan soil. According to the details, the Pakistani forces targeted the terrorists affiliated with the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group, which are responsible for the March 16 attack in Mir Ali, North Waziristan, and multiple other terrorist attacks in the country, resulting in scores of deaths of Pakistanis including law enforcement officials and innocent civilians.
Pakistan faces a continued risk of cross-border terrorism from its joint border with Afghanistan, where the banned terrorist groups have made their sanctuaries on Afghan soil and attacked Pakistani troops and civil and military installations across the country. Similar situations exist on the Pak-Iran border, wherein, Baloch insurgents camped on Iranian soil frequently illegally cross the border to perpetrate terrorism in the country. Recently, the TTP and other Afghanistan-based terrorist groups have launched multiple large-scale attacks against Pakistani Security Forces and impounded significant human and material losses to the country.
The government of Pakistan displayed utmost resilience and restraint in the face of unceasing incidents of terrorism against innocent civilians and huge life losses of its Security Forces, which the terrorists orchestrated from inside Afghanistan. Despite the continuous use of Afghan soil in the growing terrorism in Pakistan, Afghan nationals have also been involved in terrorist attacks against the national institutions on our soil, which clearly illustrates the magnitude and the volume of the terrorism threat animating out of Afghan soil against Pakistan.
Pakistan has publically voiced its serious concern over the presence of terrorist sanctuaries in Afghanistan, which are continuously weighing war against Pakistan and causing loss of lives and damage to critical infrastructure and properties. Islamabad called on the Taliban leadership to take action against the proscribed terror outfits based in Afghanistan and handed over the TTP leadership to Pakistan.
Pakistan maintains that these terrorists pose a grave threat to Pakistan’s security and have consistently used Afghan territory to launch terror attacks inside Pakistani territory. Meanwhile, these terrorist groups are a collective threat to regional peace and security which needs to be eliminated through joint efforts, teamwork, and cooperation between the two brotherly nations. Unfortunately, the Afghan interim government largely ignored Pakistan’s concerns and continued its hidden support for the terror outfits that unceasingly trade in death dance and bloodshed in Pakistan.
Pakistan always prioritized dialogue and cooperation to confront the terrorist threat and sought cooperation from Kabul over the past two years. Due to the absence of necessary support from Afghanistan, Pakistan’s political and military leadership unanimously decided to respond in the same coin to Kabul as it deals with Islamabad. Pakistan’s yesterday’s attack against terror outfits was a sensation to the Afghan interim government that Pakistan would not compromise on its security anymore.
Pakistan always stood with the people of Afghanistan through thick and thin and presently seeks the same cooperation from Afghanistan. It is time that Afghan leaders rethink the policy of siding with Khwarij terrorists shedding the blood of innocent Pakistanis and making a clear choice to stand with the people of Pakistan. Otherwise, the Pakistani military would use all possible options to deal with the menace of terrorism to ensure the security and protection of its nation at all costs.
