ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s military said on Thursday that it had killed 18 militants linked to an Indian-backed network in two separate intelligence-based operations in Balochistan, as cross-border tensions with Afghanistan sharply escalated following the collapse of recent peace talks.
In a statement, Pakistan’s military media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said security forces launched the first operation in the Chiltan Mountains of Quetta district, where they “effectively engaged the terrorists’ location” and killed 14 fighters belonging to Fitna al-Hindustan, an armed group Islamabad describes as an Indian proxy.
A second raid in Buleda, Kech district, neutralized four more militants and uncovered a cache of weapons, ammunition, and explosives.
The ISPR added that the militants had been “actively involved in numerous terrorist activities” across the province, and that sweeping “sanitization operations” were underway to track down any remaining suspects.
The military vowed to sustain its counterterrorism drive under Operation Azm-e-Istehkam, part of Pakistan’s renewed National Action Plan to eliminate “foreign-sponsored terrorism.”
Operation Follows Collapse of Pakistan-Afghanistan Talks
The operation came just a day after peace talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan — mediated by Türkiye and Qatar in Istanbul — collapsed over Islamabad’s demand that Kabul rein in the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Wednesday issued a stark warning to Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers, saying any further attacks on Pakistani soil would be met with a “fierce response.”
His remarks followed confirmation by Information Minister Attaullah Tarar that the latest round of negotiations had failed to produce any breakthrough on curbing cross-border infiltration.
Since the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul in 2021, Pakistan has faced a surge in militant attacks emanating from Afghan territory. Analysts say the TTP’s operational networks have regrouped and expanded under Taliban patronage, targeting civilians, security forces, and border posts across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
Khawaja Asif accused the Kandahar-based Taliban leadership of arrogance and duplicity, saying they had “misread Pakistan’s resolve and courage.”
“The warmongers within the Taliban regime, who profit from instability, should know that their threats are mere performative circus,” Asif said, warning that any miscalculation “would prove costly for Kabul.”
Security analysts say the Taliban’s continued sheltering of TTP and other anti-Pakistan groups risks plunging the region into a new phase of instability.
Islamabad, they warn, is losing patience after repeated diplomatic overtures failed to convince the Taliban to act against militants using Afghan soil as a launchpad for attacks inside Pakistan.
