By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top military commander said on Wednesday a lasting peace with Afghanistan is impossible unless the Taliban regime severs its support for terrorist organisations operating from its soil.
Field Marshal Asim Munir, who holds the dual role of chief of defence forces and chief of army staff, delivered the uncompromising message during a visit to Wana in South Waziristan, in Pakistan’s north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The remarks underscore the deepening rift between Islamabad and Kabul four years after the Taliban’s return to power.
In a statement released by the military’s media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Munir reiterated that “peace could only prevail between both sides if the Afghan Taliban renounced their support for terrorism and terrorist organisations”. The message was repeated with emphasis during his tour of forward positions along the porous 2,600km border.
The visit came as Pakistan presses ahead with Operation Ghazab lil-Haq, a cross-border campaign launched late last month following Pakistani airstrikes on suspected militant hideouts in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar and Paktika provinces. According to an update from information minister Attaullah Tarar on Wednesday, Pakistani forces have killed 481 Afghan Taliban personnel since the operation began, with the toll rising from 464 reported the previous day. More than 696 have been injured, while 226 checkposts have been destroyed and 35 posts captured. Air strikes have “effectively” targeted 56 locations, and 198 tanks, armoured vehicles and artillery pieces have been put out of action.
Munir was given a detailed briefing on the security situation, ongoing intelligence-based operations and border management measures. Particular focus was placed on developments in Operation Ghazab lil-Haq. He also laid a floral wreath at the martyrs’ monument in honour of Pakistani soldiers killed in previous fighting, offered fateha prayers and described the sacrifices of the shuhada – or martyrs – as “the cornerstone of Pakistan’s security and resilience”.
Interacting with officers and troops in forward areas, the field marshal praised their “unwavering professionalism, operational vigilance and high morale” amid continuing skirmishes. He expressed full confidence in the “combat readiness, synergy and resilience” of the formations deployed along the frontier.The Pakistani state uses the term Fitna al-Khawarij to refer to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and Fitna al-Hindustan for Baloch militant groups.
Munir stressed that the use of Afghan territory by these organisations to launch attacks inside Pakistan was “unacceptable”, adding that “all necessary measures would be taken to neutralise the threat emanating from across the border”. Relations between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban have reached their lowest point since the group seized power in Kabul in 2021. Islamabad has repeatedly accused the Taliban of failing to honour commitments to prevent Afghan soil from being used against Pakistan, particularly by the TTP, which has intensified its insurgency over the past two years.
Tensions spilled into open conflict last October, when clashes erupted along the frontier, prompting mediation efforts by Turkey and Qatar. Multiple rounds of talks in Doha produced little more than fragile ceasefires and vague commitments to establish verification mechanisms.
The current escalation began with Pakistani strikes on 21-22 February targeting terrorist camps in eastern Afghanistan, which drew retaliatory attacks from Taliban forces. Pakistan responded by launching Operation on 26 February. A senior security official told journalists on Monday that the campaign would continue until Kabul provided “verifiable guarantees” against facilitating terrorism. “We are in no hurry,” the official said.
Speaking after an in-camera briefing, Prime Minister’s political adviser Rana Sanaullah told a private television channel that Pakistan’s targets in the operation had “almost been achieved” and were now being consolidated. “Pakistan’s only demand [is] that Afghan Taliban do not allow their soil to be used for terrorism against us,” he said. “So, if they back off from it, we have no fight with them.”
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