Pakistan has achieved nearly all of its objectives in the recent military operation against Afghanistan, according to Rana Sanaullah, special assistant to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, on Thursday.
Islamabad launched Operation Ghazab lil-Haq last week in response to attacks by the Afghan Taliban forces on more than 50 locations along the over 2,600-kilometer border between the two countries. The Taliban attack followed Pakistan’s airstrikes in eastern Afghan provinces targeting alleged militant camps.
“Pakistan’s targets in Operation Ghazab lil-Haq in Afghanistan have almost been achieved and are being fortified now. Our only demand from Afghanistan was that it should not allow its soil to be used for terrorism against us," Sanaullah, a former interior minister, told a private news channel.
He further stated that Islamabad expects Kabul to immediately withdraw support for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar reported that its armed forces have killed 481 Afghan Taliban personnel so far.
“As of March 4, security forces have killed 481 and injured over 696 Afghan Taliban personnel, destroyed 226 check posts, and captured 35 posts,” Tarar wrote in a post on X.
He added that 198 tanks, armoured vehicles, and artillery guns have been destroyed, while air strikes have targeted 56 locations across Afghanistan.
The strikes followed Pakistan’s air operations last Thursday, after the Taliban said it had conducted “large-scale offensive operations” against Pakistani military positions along the shared border.
Afghan authorities claimed that dozens of Pakistani soldiers were killed and that 19 army posts and two bases were destroyed in the attacks.
Pakistan’s defense minister, Khawaja Asif, later stated that Islamabad is conducting an “open war” against Kabul, citing concerns that Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) fighters were using Afghan territory to target Pakistan.
Relations between the neighbours, which share a 2,611-kilometer-long border, have deteriorated significantly since October of last year.
(With PTI inputs)
