By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has reported inflicting heavy losses on Afghan Taliban forces in ongoing “Operation Ghazab lil Haq”, with the information minister said on Friday that 527 fighters had been killed and more than 755 injured since the offensive began.
In a post on X, information minister Attaullah Tarar provided a detailed tally of what he described as significant tactical gains. Alongside the casualties, he said Pakistani strikes had destroyed 237 checkposts, captured 38 more, and eliminated 205 tanks, armoured vehicles and artillery guns. Precision air strikes had also hit 62 locations across Afghanistan, he added.
The figures mark the latest escalation in a conflict that has pushed the neighbours toward what one senior Pakistani minister has already called “open war”. Clashes intensified last week after Afghan forces launched a surprise attack on Pakistani military installations along the shared border. Kabul described the assault as retaliation for Pakistani airstrikes on 27 February that struck Taliban military sites, including in Kabul and Kandahar – one of the deepest incursions into Afghan territory in years.
Pakistan maintains that its actions are a legitimate response to cross-border attacks by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Pakistani Taliban, which Islamabad accuses the Afghan Taliban of sheltering and supporting. The Taliban government in Kabul denies the allegations and insists it is willing to engage in dialogue, while warning that any wider conflict would carry “serious consequences”.
On Friday Tarar framed the operation as a necessary dismantling of the Afghan Taliban’s operational infrastructure. “Summary of Afghan Taliban losses: 527 killed, 755+ injured, 237 checkposts destroyed, 38 posts captured, 205 tanks, armored vehicles and artillery guns destroyed,” he wrote. “62 locations across Afghanistan effectively targeted by air.”
The fighting has already raised fears of a protracted confrontation along the rugged 2,600km (1,615-mile) frontier, one of the longest and most porous in the world. Pakistani officials have rejected calls for immediate talks with Kabul, insisting the operation will continue until its objectives are met.
Defence minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif declared last week that the situation had deteriorated into “open war” as strikes and ground clashes multiplied. Afghan officials, for their part, have denounced the Pakistani incursions as violations of sovereignty. The international community has responded with growing alarm. The European Union and the United Nations have both urged restraint and pressed for urgent negotiations. Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has offered Ankara’s assistance in restoring a ceasefire, telling Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif that Turkey stands ready to mediate.
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