Afghanistan Peace Campaign
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s military on Monday vowed to continue intelligence-based operations against alleged militant hideouts in Afghanistan, expressing concerns over alleged use of Afghan territory by militant groups for attacks inside Pakistan.
Islamabad has frequently accused India of backing militant groups and Afghanistan of allowing the use of its soil for attacks in Pakistan’s western regions that border Afghanistan. New Delhi and Kabul deny this.
Pakistan’s top army brass on Monday held a meeting, presided over by Chief of Defense Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir, to review the prevailing security environment in the country, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing.
The forum affirmed that lasting peace and stability in the region is contingent upon “preventing use of Afghan Taliban controlled territory by Indian terrorist proxies for which Afghan Taliban regime is directly responsible.”
“Pakistan has unequivocal right to defend its people from terrorism and the Armed Forces shall continue Intelligence Based Operations against terrorism emanating from Afghan Taliban controlled territory,” the ISPR said.
There was no immediate response from New Delhi and Kabul to the statement, which came a week after Islamabad conducted airstrikes in Afghanistan’s border regions.
Pakistan’s information minister said the strikes killed over 20 militants, some of whom belonged to a Pakistani Taliban faction that claimed an earlier attack in Karachi, killing three Pakistani paramilitary troops. Giving a higher death toll, Kabul said the strikes killed Afghan civilians.
Both countries have been locked in a conflict since Feb., when Afghanistan launched cross-border artillery strikes into Pakistan in retaliation for earlier Pakistani airstrikes on Afghan border areas that Islamabad said targeted alleged militant camps.
The fighting in Feb. upended a Qatari-mediated ceasefire in October that halted earlier clashes between the two sides, which had killed dozens of civilians, security forces and militants.
Regional mediators, including China, Russia, Qatar and Turkiye, have previously attempted to facilitate negotiations between Islamabad and Kabul, but cross-border clashes have continued though at a lower intensity.