By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Security forces foiled an overnight attempt by Afghan Taliban fighters and allied militants to storm a border outpost in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, killing 37 attackers and wounding more than 80 others, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Sunday.
The assault on the Ghulam Khan Sector post occurred during the night of April 2-3, as part of Pakistan’s continuing Operation Ghazab lil-Haq, a military campaign that has escalated into the most intense fighting between the two neighbours in decades. Tarar described the attackers as a joint force of Afghan Taliban and what the Pakistani state calls “Fitna al Khawarij” — its term for the banned Pakistani Taliban, or Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, a group closely allied with but distinct from the Afghan Taliban.
In a post on X, Tarar said the attempt to seize the border post “was comprehensively foiled, in which they suffered heavy casualties, including up to 37 sent to hell and 80+ injured.” the minister provided no further details about the clash.
The announcement came as Tarar released updated figures on the broader operation. As of 5 p.m. Sunday, he said, Pakistani forces had killed 796 “terrorists and Afghan Taliban operatives” and injured more than 1,043 others. The military destroyed 286 militant posts, captured 44 more and eliminated 249 tanks, armored vehicles, artillery guns and drones. Pakistani aircraft also struck 81 locations used by militants and their support infrastructure inside Afghanista.
Operation Ghazab lil-Haq was launched on the night of Feb. 26 after cross-border firing by Afghan Taliban forces. A temporary pause was ordered on March 18 at the request of “brotherly Islamic countries”. Islamabad announced the operation’s resumption on March 26, vowing to continue “until its objectives are achieved.”
The latest flare-up fits into a pattern of tit-for-tat violence that has strained relations between the two nations since the Taliban’s return to power in Kabul in 2021. Pakistan has repeatedly accused Afghanistan of sheltering militants who stage attacks inside Pakistani territory, particularly the Pakistani Taliban. Afghan authorities deny the charges and have countered that Pakistani airstrikes have killed civilians.
The current round of fighting erupted in late February when Afghan forces launched a cross-border raid into Pakistan, which Kabul described as retaliation for earlier Pakistani airstrikes on Afghan border areas. Pakistan declared it was in “open war” with Afghanistan. The two sides agreed to a temporary truce last month ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, mediated by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar. That pause expired, and clashes resumed around March 25.The conflict has included repeated cross-border shelling and Pakistani airstrikes deep into Afghanistan, including several in the Afghan capital, Kabul.
China, which maintains close ties with both countries and shares a short but strategically sensitive border with them in the west, has stepped up mediation efforts. Beijing has held telephone calls between the foreign ministers of Pakistan and Afghanistan and dispatched a special envoy for talks in March. On Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said both sides “attach importance to, and welcome, China’s mediation, and are willing to sit down for talks again.” Mao did not specify where any new negotiations might take place, though previous rounds have been held in the northwestern Chinese city of Urumqi.
The latest fighting has undermined an earlier Qatari-mediated cease-fire reached in October that had halted previous rounds of clashes, which killed dozens of civilians, security forces and militants. Peace talks hosted in Istanbul in November failed to produce a lasting agreement. The surge in militancy along Pakistan’s western border has added to security challenges for Islamabad, which has long struggled with insurgent groups operating from Afghan territory. Pakistani officials have said the Afghan Taliban’s victory in 2021 emboldened the Pakistani Taliban, leading to a sharp rise in attacks inside Pakistan.
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