The latest flare-up along the Pakistan–Afghanistan border was more than another exchange of fire across a contested frontier. It was a stark reminder of the fragile security environment that has persisted since the return of the Afghan Taliban to power in Kabul, and of the heavy price Pakistan continues to pay in blood and uncertainty. Security officials in Islamabad said 44 personnel linked to the Afghan Taliban regime were killed after what they described as unprovoked cross-border attacks on Pakistani positions. The retaliation, launched under the banner of Operation Ghazb-ul-Haq, followed days of rising tension and, according to Pakistani authorities, repeated provocations.
On the Pakistani side, two soldiers were killed and three wounded. The figures could not be independently verified, and there was no immediate detailed response from Kabul. Yet the political message from Islamabad was clear: Pakistan would not absorb attacks on its soil without consequence. For months, Islamabad has warned that militant violence inside Pakistan has surged, with a particular focus on the activities of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, also referred to by officials as “Fitna al-Khawarij”. The TTP, though organizationally distinct from the Afghan Taliban, has long operated from sanctuaries across the border. Pakistan’s position is that the Afghan interim government has either been unwilling or unable to dismantle these networks.
The persistence of cross-border infiltration, suicide bombings and attacks on security forces has strengthened that perception within Pakistan’s security establishment. The geography of this conflict is unforgiving. The mountainous belt spanning Chitral, Khyber, Mohmand, Kurram and Bajaur has historically been difficult to police, even in more stable times. However, the terrain alone does not explain the renewed intensity. Pakistani officials argue that terrorists who strike markets, mosques and military convoys retreat into Afghan territory, regroup, and then return. The intelligence-based airstrikes reportedly conducted in Nangarhar, Paktika and Khost — said to have targeted seven camps linked to the TTP — were framed by Islamabad as an act of self-defence after more than 100 militants were killed in those operations.
From Islamabad’s vantage point, the pattern is troubling. Each major terrorist incident inside Pakistan — particularly those targeting civilians — is followed by claims of responsibility or operational fingerprints associated with TTP terrorists based across the border. When Pakistan responds, either through diplomatic demarches or kinetic action, it is met, officials say, with denial and a barrage of social media propaganda. The information war has become almost as intense as the firefights themselves. Federal information minister Attaullah Tarar accused Afghan Taliban-linked and Indian social media accounts of circulating what he called “false and baseless propaganda” to obscure setbacks on the ground.
The allegation that hostile narratives are being amplified to destabilize Pakistan fits within a broader security doctrine in Islamabad, one that sees hybrid warfare — a blend of terrorism, disinformation and foreign, especially Indian proxy actors — as a central threat. Officials have repeatedly suggested that anti-Pakistan terrorist groups benefit from external mostly India’s patronage and exploit Afghan soil to pursue a wider hostile agenda to Pakistan’s stability. This is not merely rhetorical positioning. Pakistan has endured a relentless wave of terrorism over the past two decades. Tens of thousands of innocent civilians and security personnel have been martyred in bombings, targeted assassinations and coordinated assaults.
The national psyche remains scarred by attacks on schools, mosques, shrines and bazaars. For many Pakistanis, the question is not whether to respond, but how long restraint can be sustained when funerals continue to punctuate daily life. In that context, the state’s response has been framed as defensive rather than escalatory. Officials insist that no Pakistani posts were captured or damaged in the latest clashes and that attempts by Afghan Taliban elements to target check posts using quadcopters were foiled. Drones and heavy weapons were deployed, but, according to Islamabad, only in response to aggression. The emphasis has been on deterrence: any attack will be met with an immediate and effective reply.
The deeper issue, however, lies in governance across the border. Since the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul in 2021, the international community has grappled with how to engage a regime that remains diplomatically isolated. Pakistan, despite its complex history with Afghanistan, was among those urging constructive engagement rather than abandonment. The logic was pragmatic: a stable Afghanistan is in Pakistan’s national interest. Economic connectivity, refugee management and counterterrorism cooperation all depend on a functional neighbor. Yet stability requires more than rhetoric. If the Afghan authorities cannot, or will not, prevent TTP operatives from using their territory to launch attacks, the consequences will reverberate beyond bilateral ties.
It undermines Kabul’s claim to sovereign control and complicates its efforts to secure international legitimacy. Cross-border militancy erodes trust and narrows the space for diplomatic solutions. There is also the regional dimension. Islamabad’s references to Indian proxies reflect a long-standing rivalry between the two nuclear-armed neighbors. Pakistan has accused India of exploiting Afghan territory in the past to foment unrest, particularly in border provinces. While such claims are fiercely contested by New Delhi, they resonate strongly within Pakistan’s strategic community. In periods of heightened tension, every explosion in a Pakistani city is viewed not only as a security failure but as a potential node in a larger geopolitical contest.
Still, the immediate human cost cannot be obscured by strategic narratives. Each clash along the frontier carries the risk of escalation. Civilians in border districts live with the anxiety of artillery fire and the disruption of trade routes that sustain fragile local economies. Afghan refugees in Pakistan, already vulnerable, find themselves caught in a deteriorating political climate. Prolonged hostility benefits no one. The path forward requires candor and accountability. Pakistan’s demand is straightforward: Afghan soil must not be used to mount attacks against its territory. That principle aligns with international norms of state responsibility. If Kabul wishes to be recognized as a responsible government, it must demonstrate credible action against transnational militancy.
Denial and propaganda will not suffice. At the same time, Islamabad must balance firmness with foresight. Military retaliation may suppress immediate threats, but durable peace demands institutional mechanisms for border management, intelligence sharing and economic cooperation. A hostile frontier drains resources and entrenches mistrust. For now, Pakistan’s message is one of resolve. It will defend its territorial integrity and respond to attacks on its civilians and soldiers. However, behind the rhetoric lies a weary reality: a nation that has fought a long war against extremism does not seek another open-ended conflict. What it seeks, and what the region urgently needs, is an Afghanistan that acts as a peaceful neighbor rather than a permissive space for militants who spill blood across the border.
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