Pakistan Army Offers Strong Response to Unprovoked Afghan Aggression Along Border

Clashes broke out along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border after Afghan forces opened unprovoked fire at multiple locations in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, prompting a swift and forceful response from the Pakistan Army, which destroyed several Afghan posts and killed dozens of Afghan soldiers and terrorists, sources said. security on Saturday.

The coordinated attack originated from several key sectors including Angoor Adda, Bajaur, Kurram, Dir, Chitral in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Baramcha in Balochistan. The firing, security sources claimed, was aimed at facilitating the illegal entry of Khwarij – the state-designated term for the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) – into Pakistani territory.

“Pakistan army responded immediately and decisively,” security sources said. “The counteroffensive effectively attacked and destroyed multiple Afghan posts on the border. Dozens of Afghan and Khwarij soldiers were killed in retaliatory fire.”

Sources said that following the retaliatory attacks, several Taliban fighters abandoned their positions and fled, leaving behind the bodies of their soldiers. “The bodies are scattered and the posts have been abandoned in panic,” confirmed security sources.

The cross-border aggression came at a diplomatically sensitive time, as Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister is currently on an official visit to India, a move that has raised serious concerns in Islamabad.

Security sources believe that the timing and coordination of the attack, which coincided with terrorist movement along the border, raises serious questions about the role of Afghan forces in facilitating cross-border militancy.

Late on Saturday, retaliatory operations by the Pakistan Army were reported to be continuing in some sectors, with troops on high alert along the western border.

Afghan Taliban call for ceasefire

Following Pakistan’s appropriate response, Afghanistan’s Taliban-led Defense Ministry announced it would cease its actions and urged Islamabad to avoid further escalation.

In a statement, the ministry said: “We will now stop our retaliatory actions against Pakistan and hope that Pakistan does not retaliate.”

Naqvi warns Kabul of retaliation

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi strongly condemned what he described as “unprovoked firing” by Afghan forces against civilian-populated areas inside Pakistan, calling the attacks a clear violation of international law.

“Shooting on civilian populations is an open violation of international law,” Naqvi said in a statement, praising Pakistan’s military for what he called an immediate and effective response.
“Pakistan’s brave forces have demonstrated, through a timely and forceful response, that no provocation will be tolerated,” he added.

The Interior Minister said Pakistan’s security forces remained on high alert and were responding appropriately to any aggression. “Our forces are alert and Afghanistan is being answered stone by stone,” he said, using a local idiom to emphasize a tough countermeasure.

Naqvi also hinted at outside involvement behind the latest hostilities. “The pattern of fire and blood we are witnessing in Afghanistan has connections to our perennial enemies,” he said, without naming any countries.

Reaffirming public solidarity with the armed forces, Naqvi said the people of Pakistan were united behind the military. “The people of Pakistan stand behind our brave armed forces like a steel wall,” he said.

Read more: Security forces eliminate 30 terrorists behind Orakzai attack

The minister further warned Kabul against what he called “provocative actions” and said Pakistan would not hesitate to respond firmly. “Afghanistan will be given a decisive response similar to that of India, so that it does not dare to look covetously at Pakistan,” he said.

KP faces rising terrorist wave

KP has been hit by a wave of extremism and terrorist violence, with terrorists infiltrating across the Afghan border to attack both security forces and civilians.

On the night of October 10-11, heavily armed assailants attempted to breach the perimeter of the Police Training School in the Dera Ismail Khan district. Six police officers (including trainees) were martyred, while twelve others and one civilian were injured when security forces repelled what officials described as a “cowardly terrorist attack”.

Just a few days earlier, eleven military personnel, including two officers, had been martyred during an Intelligence Based Operation (IBO) in one of the mountainous districts of KP. Nineteen terrorists were reported killed in the same clash.

Read more: DG ISPR blames KP failures for rise in terrorism

Security forces subsequently launched a “retaliation operation” against militants linked to the Orakzai attack. According to army media, thirty terrorists involved in the incident were killed during the operation, carried out earlier this week.

The army warns of the growing involvement of Afghan citizens in terrorism

Addressing a press conference in Peshawar on Friday, DG ISPR Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry acknowledged the deteriorating security situation and increasing terrorist activity across the country.

He said Pakistan’s counter-terrorism campaign had intensified, with more than 10,000 intelligence-based operations carried out in KP alone this year, resulting in the elimination of nearly 1,000 militants.

The DG ISPR warned that the growing involvement of Afghan nationals in terrorism had further complicated Pakistan’s security landscape. “Afghanistan is being used as a base to carry out terrorism in Pakistan,” he said, urging the Taliban government to ensure its territory is not used against its neighbor.

Read also: Major Sibtain Haider martyred in DI Khan IBO, seven terrorists killed

He noted that many of the militants active in KP maintained ties to Afghanistan and were using abandoned US weapons left after the 2021 withdrawal.

Lt Gen Chaudhry also cited governance failures and weak implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP) as key factors behind the resurgence of militancy.

“The vacuum of bad governance is being filled with the blood of martyrs,” he commented, highlighting that effective implementation of the NAP and better governance in KP were essential to restore peace and stability.