Counter-terror attacks

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Terror fissures emanating from Afghanistan have kept Pakistan on tenterhooks for long. Despite repeated requests to Kabul to take note of unscrupulous elements operating on both sides of the divide, nothing substantial has been seen to this day. Thus, the counter-terrorism operation carried out by Islamabad this week on the bordering regions of Afghanistan is a grim reminder that things are in a state of flux, and the threat is looming large. But the Foreign Office made it cautiously clear that "Pakistan respects Afghan sovereignty, and it was a limited well-choreographed counter-terrorism operation well inside our borders." To buckle up the stance, the ISPR too went on record stating that terrorist outfits were being provided "sanctuaries, support, and are allowed unrestrained activities on Afghan territory".

The Afghan authorities, however, are adamant that surgical strikes were conducted well inside Afghan territory in four different locations of Bermal district in southern Paktika province. To make it a point, a Pakistani diplomat in Kabul was summoned and the ire was conveyed by the Taliban government. This development has come just days after Pakistan's representative to Afghanistan, Ambassador Muhammad Sadiq, went on a fence-mending trip to Kabul and met foreign and interior ministers reiterating the goodwill gesture to see peace and stability in the strife-torn state, and seeking the largesse of Afghans in acting lethally against the non-state actors, especially the TTP operatives.

There can be no denying that terror residuals are well-entrenched inside Afghanistan and a multitude of gun-throttling elements are out to bleed Pakistan. In 2024, security forces conducted a total of 59,775 operations in the former tribal belt, K-P and Balochistan, and more than 925 terrorists were exterminated. It is also a fact that more than 1,500 civil and military casualties took place in the last 15 months, as the restlessness has its epicentre across the western frontiers. Kabul must look at the bigger picture of existential crisis and nail down the TTP and likes. No point in questioning genuine counter-terror assaults.