OMM Redaksiyası
Tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have risen again. Pakistani security sources said troops thwarted an attempted attack by the Afghan Taliban on Thursday in the Gulistan sector of Balochistan province, along the western border with Afghanistan.
The sources said Taliban fighters had attempted to enter Pakistani territory and carry out an act of aggression. Intermittent exchanges of fire continued, while Pakistani forces remained on high alert. The Afghan Taliban government did not immediately comment on the allegations.
Pakistan says it struck 10 targets in Afghanistan
Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Thursday that the country had carried out precision airstrikes and drone attacks on 10 sites in Afghanistan allegedly used to launch and store unmanned aerial vehicles.
He said the operation followed a deliberate and illegal drone incursion reported on Sept. 23. Pakistan’s air defense systems detected, tracked and neutralized eight drones entering from Afghan territory before they reached their intended targets.
Pakistani security sources said four drones were shot down near Torkham, one of the main border crossings between the two countries, while the other four were downed in mountainous areas around Kohat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, near the Afghan border.
Taliban denies drone attack
The Taliban government denied sending drones into Pakistani territory. Its chief spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said Pakistani strikes had hit Kandahar, Paktia and Khost provinces, killing civilians.
Mujahid condemned the attacks and said Afghanistan would provide an “appropriate response.” Reports also said a strike occurred in Kandahar city, where the headquarters of Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada is located.
Pakistan said the strikes targeted military infrastructure allegedly linked to drone attacks. Afghan officials rejected Islamabad’s explanation and reported civilian casualties.
Reasons for the tensions
Before Pakistan’s initial strikes on Sept. 21, a police facility in Kohat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, was attacked and a roadside blast occurred in the nearby Hangu district. Pakistani authorities said six soldiers were killed in the incidents.
Pakistan later said 28 militants had been killed in strikes in Afghanistan. Afghan authorities said three civilians were killed, with those casualties later confirmed by the United Nations.
Islamabad accuses the Taliban government of allowing the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistani Taliban, and other militant groups to operate from Afghan territory. Kabul denies providing shelter to armed groups opposed to Pakistan and describes militancy inside Pakistan as an internal problem for Islamabad.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar called this week, at a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Contact Group on Afghanistan held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, for concrete and verifiable measures to prevent Afghan territory from being used for terrorist activities against neighboring countries, particularly Pakistan.
Relations between the two countries deteriorated sharply in February, followed by some of the heaviest fighting in recent years between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban. Although relative calm later returned, the dispute over cross-border militancy remains unresolved. The latest clashes indicate a further deterioration in security relations between Islamabad and Kabul.
