By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Sunday its military has killed 583 Afghan Taliban fighters and wounded more than 795 others since launching a cross-border operation against the group, as clashes with Afghanistan entered a second week along the two countries’ rugged frontier.
In a post on X, information minister Attaullah Tarar provided a detailed tally of operation’s early successes. “Summary of Afghan Taliban losses: 583 Killed, 795+ Injured, 242 Check posts destroyed, 38 Posts captured & destroyed, 213 tanks, armored vehicles, artillery guns destroyed,” Tarar wrote. The minister said Pakistani strikes had also destroyed 242 check posts and led to the capture and destruction of 38 others. In addition to the ground operations, precision air strikes hit 64 locations across Afghanistan, he said, targeting Taliban military installations and supply lines.
The disclosures mark a sharp escalation in a conflict that began Feb. 26, when Afghan forces launched a surprise attack on Pakistani military positions along the shared border. That assault came in retaliation for earlier Pakistani airstrikes on what Islamabad described as militant camps inside Afghanistan. On Feb. 27, Pakistani forces struck Taliban installations and outposts, including sites in and around Kabul and Kandahar — among the deepest incursions into Afghan territory in years.
Pakistan has long accused the Taliban government in Kabul of sheltering fighters from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or the Pakistani Taliban — who Islamabad says use Afghan soil to plan and launch attacks inside Pakistan. The Taliban deny the allegations and have called on Pakistan to address its internal security problems without blaming its neighbor.
Hours before Tarar’s announcement, Pakistani troops foiled an attempted infiltration by TTP militants in the Chaman sector along the border, a security official said. The group, consisting of three to four militant formations, tried to breach the border fence under cover of darkness. “Troops detected the movement in time and engaged the militants as they attempted to cut through the border fence,” the official said. “During the exchange of fire, one foreign terrorist was killed while the remaining militants fled the area.”
Pakistan has named the ongoing campaign Operation Ghazab Lil Haq, which translates roughly to “Wrath for Truth.” Officials in Islamabad have rejected Afghan calls for immediate dialogue, saying the operation will continue until its objectives are achieved. Afghan officials have denounced the strikes as a violation of sovereignty and warned that any wider conflict would carry serious consequences, while still expressing openness to talks.
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