Pakistan’s information minister Attaullah Tarar on Saturday claimed that about 300 Afghan Taliban fighters and members of allied groups have been killed so far in cross-border clashes with his country’s forces.
In a late-night update, Tarar said that Pakistan’s security forces have killed 297 combatants of the Afghan Taliban and injured over 450 others.
He added that the military destroyed 89 Taliban posts and captured 18 more during Operation Ghazab lil-Haq, while approximately 135 tanks and armoured vehicles were also destroyed. According to Tarar, around 29 locations across Afghanistan were effectively targeted by the Pakistan Air Force.
The operation was launched after Afghan forces reportedly attacked 53 locations along the more than 2,600-kilometer border between the two neighbours.
Addressing a press conference on Friday evening, Pakistan Army spokesperson Lt Gen Ahmad Sharif Chaudhry said the Afghan Taliban must make a "clear choice" between supporting terrorist groups or Pakistan.
“The oppressive Afghan Taliban regime has to make a clear choice. The choice is to choose between Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, Baloch Liberation Army, Daesh, Al Qaeda, the terrorists and terrorist organisations—and Pakistan," Chaudhry told reporters.
Islamabad has long accused Kabul of allowing the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other terrorist groups to operate from Afghan soil, providing them with residence, training, and logistics to carry out attacks across the border. The Afghan side rejects these claims, calling on Pakistan to address its own domestic challenges through dialogue with militants.
(With PTI inputs)
