By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The security forces intercepted two rudimentary drones Friday that authorities said were launched from Afghanistan by the Taliban regime and its proxies, bringing them down with electronic countermeasures before they could strike intended targets near Rawalpindi, the garrison city adjacent to the capital.
Security sources said the drones were downed at different locations close to Rawalpindi. The airspace was temporarily closed as a precaution and later reopened, with officials reporting no initial damage to military or civilian infrastructure.
The military’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations, issued a more detailed statement early Saturday confirming the interceptions through a combination of “soft and hard kills.” The drones “did not reach their intended targets,” it said. Debris from the forced crashes, however, caused injuries to two children in Quetta, one civilian in Kohat and one civilian in Rawalpindi, the ISPR added.
The military described the drone attempts as an effort “to induce fear in the public” and a reminder of “the terrorist mindset which drives the Afghan Taliban.” “On one hand, the Afghan Taliban project victimhood to garner global sympathy, while on the other hand, they actively target civilians through their terrorist proxies and their drones,” the statement said. “Pakistan’s people and its Armed Forces are absolutely clear about the true nature and intentions of the terrorist militia-for-hire that rules Afghanistan.”
The Ministry of Information, posting on X, identified the drones as belonging to “terrorist Fitna-al-Khawarij,” the state’s term for militants of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, “nurtured by the Afghan Taliban regime.” It said the devices were neutralized with electronic countermeasures and that “no military or other infrastructure was hit, other than minor damage due to debris of the forced crashing of drones.”
The ministry directly rebutted a claim posted by Afghanistan’s defence ministry on X that a Pakistani military center at Faizabad had been hit, causing loss of life and material damage. “The Taliban regime’s claim includes no verifiable evidence, as always,” the ministry wrote. “However, it fully exposes its established role as master proxy of terrorism harbouring and supporting multiple terrorist organisations such as Indian proxies Fitna-al-Khawarij and Fitna-al-Hindustan.”
Pakistani authorities use “Fitna-al-Hindustan” to refer to terrorist groups operating in Balochistan. The ministry also accused Taliban official accounts of habitually spreading “fake news and propaganda,” citing recent deleted posts in which Kabul claimed to have shot down Pakistan Air Force aircraft and captured pilots.
Confusion briefly surrounded air travel. The Pakistan Airports Authority posted on X — a message it later deleted — that Islamabad International Airport, near Rawalpindi, had experienced a “brief operational adjustment.” Several media outlets had reported that the airport was closed. In a subsequent statement, the authority called reports of airspace closure “baseless,” saying flight operations were continuing without interruption and urging the public to rely only on official sources.
The incidents fit a pattern of heightened cross-border friction since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021. Terror activity has surged in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces, which share a long border with Afghanistan.
In response, Pakistan launched Operation Ghazab lil-Haq. Information Minister Attaullah Tarar confirmed Friday that more than 650 Afghan Taliban fighters have been killed in Pakistani strikes along the border and inside Afghanistan. More than 800 have been injured and 249 checkposts destroyed, he said.
Before the broader operation began, Pakistani forces struck seven terrorist camps and hideouts linked to Fitna-al-Khawarij affiliates and the Islamic State-Khorasan group along the border. The airstrikes targeted Nangarhar, Paktika and Khost provinces, killing more than 80 militants.
The two countries also clashed directly at the border in October 2025 after what Pakistan described as unprovoked attacks by Taliban fighters and militants on Pakistani posts. More than 200 Taliban and affiliated militants were killed; 23 Pakistani soldiers died defending their positions.
Despite multiple rounds of diplomatic talks, no agreement has been reached. Pakistani officials say the Taliban regime has refused to act against terrorist outfits operating from Afghan soil.
The ISPR statement reiterated that Operation Ghazab lil-Haq will continue “until the Afghan Taliban address Pakistan’s core concerns regarding terrorism emanating from Afghan soil.” “The Armed Forces stand steadfast in the fight against terrorism and its manifestations, like the drone attacks by the Afghan Taliban,” it said. “We shall keep defending the people of Pakistan against terrorists and their facilitators and shall not flinch in the face of such provocations by the Afghan Taliban.”
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