Islamabad — Pakistan’s military on Friday delivered one of its sharpest public rebukes yet to the Afghan Taliban government, warning Kabul to decide whether it stands with Islamabad or with militant organizations accused of attacking Pakistan.
At a nationally televised press conference, Inter-Services Public Relations Director General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said the Afghan Taliban regime must make a “clear choice” between Pakistan and groups including the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Baloch Liberation Army, Daesh and Al Qaeda.
“The oppressive Afghan Taliban regime has to make a clear choice,” he said. “Whether they choose terrorists and terrorism or Pakistan. Our choice is absolutely clear. It will always be Pakistan over everything.”
The remarks came as Pakistan detailed its military response to what it described as unprovoked cross-border aggression a day earlier. According to the military, Afghan Taliban forces, alongside what the state refers to as Fitna al Khawarij — its term for the banned TTP — carried out coordinated attacks and raids at 53 locations along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Chaudhry said Pakistani forces repulsed the attacks at all locations and launched Operation Ghazab lil-Haq in response. He claimed that 274 Afghan Taliban regime personnel and militants had been killed so far, with more than 400 injured. Seventy-three Afghan Taliban posts along the frontier were destroyed and 18 captured, he added.
He further said that 115 tanks, armored vehicles and artillery pieces had been destroyed, describing the figures as “conservative estimates.” Pakistani airstrikes targeted 22 locations in Kabul, Kandahar, Paktia, Nangarhar, Khost and Paktika, including what he described as corps and brigade headquarters, ammunition depots and logistics bases allegedly supporting militant operations.
“All these targets were very carefully selected based on intelligence,” he said, asserting that no civilian infrastructure was struck and that great care was taken to avoid collateral damage.
The military spokesperson also confirmed casualties among Pakistani forces, saying 12 soldiers were killed, 27 injured and one reported missing in action.
Chaudhry accused India of backing militant attacks inside Pakistan, alleging “Indian sponsorship, abetment and design” behind terrorist incidents. He said militant groups use territory under the control of the Afghan Taliban as a base of operations.
In unusually blunt language, he said the distinction between the Taliban regime and terrorist organizations had “blurred,” calling the Afghan authorities a “master proxy” facilitating anti-Pakistan militancy.
He also invoked the 2020 Doha accord signed between the Taliban and the United States, arguing that the Afghan Taliban had failed to uphold commitments, including preventing their territory from being used for terrorism.
The briefing underscored the sharp deterioration in relations between Islamabad and Kabul, once cautiously cooperative after the Taliban’s return to power. Pakistan has increasingly accused Afghan authorities of sheltering or tolerating militants targeting its security forces and civilians — a charge Kabul has repeatedly denied in the past.
Chaudhry said the ongoing operation was being conducted under the direction of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and emphasized that political parties across Pakistan were united behind the campaign against terrorism.
“The operation is continuing,” he said. “Our first and last choice is Pakistan, its security, and the protection of its people.”
There was no immediate response from Afghan Taliban officials to the latest claims. Independent verification of battlefield figures and damage assessments was not immediately possible.
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