Key points
- Strikes hit 22 locations, including headquarters and terrorist safe havens.
- Operations targeted sites in Kabul, Kandahar, Paktika, Nangarhar, Khost.
- No civilian infrastructure was targeted during strikes.
- Twelve Pakistani soldiers martyred, 27 injured, military confirms.
- 150 Afghan tanks and armoured vehicles destroyed.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s armed forces launched an “immediate and effective” response to terrorists attacks originating from across the Pakistan–Afghanistan border, targeting Afghan Taliban positions and terrorist infrastructure at multiple locations, according to the military’s media wing.
Addressing a press conference on Friday, Director General Inter-Services Public Relations Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said Pakistan had acted decisively following what he termed unprovoked aggression, stressing that national security would be defended at all costs.
“The Pakistan Armed Forces responded immediately and effectively,” he said, adding that 18 enemy posts had been captured while 73 Afghan Taliban posts along the border were destroyed during the operation.
According to the DG ISPR, Pakistani forces struck 18 high-value targets across 22 locations. These included corps headquarters, battalion headquarters, and terrorists safe havens. He said the strikes were conducted with precision and restraint.
“Military targets were very carefully selected. No civilian infrastructure was targeted,” he said, rejecting claims of indiscriminate force.
The air and ground operations reportedly hit targets in Kabul, Paktika, Kandahar, Nangarhar, Laghman and Khost provinces.
The military spokesman said 12 Pakistani soldiers were martyred and 27 injured during the clashes. On the Afghan side, he said that 274 Afghan Taliban fighters were killed and around 400 injured. He further stated that approximately 150 tanks, armoured vehicles, and armoured personnel carriers (APCs) were destroyed.
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Lt Gen Chaudhry said Pakistan would not hesitate to make any sacrifice for the defence of the country. “If terrorism takes place inside Pakistan, those who carry it out and those who facilitate it will not be safe anywhere,” he warned.
Eulogising the quick and effective response by the armed forces, he said, “Your security forces delivered what we call an effective, immediate and a brutal response — a well-deserved response to the terrorists, their facilitators, their sponsors, and the master proxy in the region,” he said.
DG ISPR also remarked that it has become difficult to distinguish “where the Taliban regime ends and where terrorism starts”.
He added that the line between the two has become “blurred”.
Pakistan has repeatedly accused terrorist groups based in Afghanistan of carrying out cross-border attacks, urging Kabul to prevent its territory from being used against Pakistan. Afghan authorities have previously denied such allegations.
The latest escalation marks one of the most intense military confrontations along the Pakistan–Afghanistan border in recent years, raising concerns about regional stability amid already fragile relations between Islamabad and Kabul.
