Pakistan launched ground operations and air strikes along the Afghan border, claiming to have killed 29 militants and destroyed armed group strongholds. This was in retaliation for an attack on a security base in Karachi. Meanwhile, the Afghan government accused the strikes of causing numerous civilian casualties, including women and children.
The Pakistan military initiated a major offensive overnight, conducting precise ground assaults and air strikes across three eastern Afghan provinces: Paktia, Paktika, and Kunar.
Attaullah Tarar, Pakistan’s Minister of Information, stated on platform X that the operation successfully destroyed militant hideouts and strongholds, resulting in 29 militant deaths—25 from air strikes and 4 from ground operations along the border. The target was the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar group, a faction that split from the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistani Taliban.
Pakistani authorities said this decisive measure was a response to a shocking incident last Saturday, when armed militants attacked the Rangers paramilitary camp in Karachi—the country's most populous city—killing three Pakistani soldiers. Security forces killed three attackers and captured one injured assailant, identified by the military as Afghan.
Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesperson for the Afghan Taliban government, strongly condemned Pakistan’s air strikes as "cowardly aggression" and denied allegations that Afghanistan harbors terrorist groups.
The Taliban government reported that Pakistan's strikes caused many civilian casualties, including women and children. This aligns with previous United Nations reports indicating Pakistan’s military operations have frequently resulted in extensive civilian harm, such as the March attack on a drug rehabilitation center that killed hundreds.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have deteriorated steadily since the Taliban took power in Afghanistan in 2021. Pakistan repeatedly accuses Afghanistan of allowing the TTP—an ally of the Afghan Taliban—to use its territory as a base for launching cross-border terrorist attacks.
Although the two countries clashed violently in late February in what became a "full-scale war," causing hundreds of deaths and displacing tens of thousands, a temporary ceasefire was negotiated in March with mediation from countries including China. However, this peace lasted only briefly.
Experts note that this latest cross-border attack occurred less than three weeks after the ceasefire ended. Pakistan’s continued reliance on military measures for internal security, combined with near-total border closures since October, severely hinders diplomatic efforts to achieve lasting peace between the neighboring countries.
/sourceAssociated Press/ AFP