Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry on Friday said the military’s Operation Ghazab-lil-Haq against terrorist proxies based in neighboring Afghanistan is ongoing, as he called on the Afghan Taliban to choose between standing with Pakistan or with terrorist organizations.
“The operation is continuing. It is under the instructions of the Prime Minister of Pakistan, the civil leadership. And we are achieving the desired results,” he said.
“I want to make one thing clear: the oppressive Afghan Taliban regime has to make a clear choice. The choice is to choose between Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Baloch Liberation Army, Daesh, Al Qaeda, the terrorists and terrorist organizations and Pakistan,” he told a press briefing regarding security forces’ response to the Afghan Taliban’s attacks on checkposts along the Pak-Afghan border the previous night.
“They have to make this choice. It has been made clear by the Government of Pakistan,” he said, emphasizing that Pakistan’s choice was “absolutely” clear. “It will always be Pakistan over everything,” he said. “The Pakistan Army and the people of Pakistan have never hesitated in making any sacrifice for this choice and they never will,” he added.
During his briefing, the military spokesman described the Afghan Taliban regime as the “master proxy” of all terrorist proxies operating from Afghanistan, noting it had worked with terrorists of the Fitna al-Khawarij (the state’s descriptor for the TTP) in targeting Pakistan. He said the Afghan Taliban and the TTP had opened fire on, and conducted raids against, 53 locations along the Pak-Afghan border in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“We were ready” for their aggression, he said, maintaining the armed forces responded “immediately and effectively” and repulsed the attack on all fronts. “They came with armed quadcopters, big and small weapons. We shot down their quadcopters and silenced their weapons,” he said, adding Islamabad had exercised its right to self-defense in giving a “befitting reply.”
According to Lt. Gen. Chaudhry, Pakistan’s response has thus far killed 274 members of the Afghan Taliban regime and the TTP, while over 400 others are injured. He said the armed forces had destroyed 73 posts of the Afghan Taliban and captured 18. He further claimed 115 tanks, armored vehicles, and artillery pieces of the Afghan Taliban had been destroyed, while headquarters and military installations providing support to terrorist organizations were targeted and hit across 22 locations in Kabul, Kandahar, Paktia, Nangarhar, Khost, and Paktika.
“All these targets were very carefully selected based on intelligence,” he stressed. “They are military targets, and great care was exercised so that there is no civilian collateral damage,” he said, adding the targets included corps headquarters, brigade headquarters, battalion headquarters, sector headquarters, ammunition depots, logistics bases, and places providing shelter to terrorists.
The spokesperson alleged the “cowardly Afghan Taliban forces” and terrorists working with them had not only fled several locations, but also abandoned the bodies of their accomplices. These, he said, had been “secured” in accordance with the Geneva protocols.
During the clashes, per the ISPR official, 12 Pakistan Army soldiers were martyred, 27 were injured and one soldier remains missing in action. Playing video clips of Pakistan’s response, he said the Afghan media and their proxies were spreading lies on social media in claiming Islamabad had targeted civilians.
“At no place was any civilian infrastructure targeted,” he maintained, adding the targeted locations comprised infrastructure used to attack Pakistan.
“The nation is proud of these soldiers who have rendered their lives, their sweat and their blood for the protection of the land and the honor of the people of Pakistan,” he said. “Whether on ground or in the air, the armed forces of Pakistan gave an effective, immediate and brutal response; a well-deserved response to the terrorists and their facilitators,” he added.
Noting reports of the Afghan Taliban’s threats to respond further, he said they had attempted to utilize “rudimentary” drones, but the anti-drone system had halted this.
“It is difficult to distinguish where the Taliban regime ends and where the terrorism starts,” he said. “The lines have blurred. Therefore, it is necessary to make it clear that if anyone tries to carry out any terrorist activity in Pakistan … its response will be given to terrorists, their guardians, and those who protect them. No place will be safe for them as we also have equal rights,” he said.
Questions and answers
In the question-and-answer portion of the briefing, the spokesperson was asked whether there was any credible information pointing to India’s involvement in the Afghan Taliban’s assault. “It is absolutely clear that Indian sponsorship, abetment and design are behind any terrorist incident in Pakistan,” he asserted.
To another question, he recalled that the Afghan Taliban are signatory to the Doha Accord, in which they had promised the world an “inclusive” government, protection of women’s right, and denial of their territory for terrorism. He noted the neighboring state had not fulfilled any of these promises.
Acknowledging that the state had lacked “clarity” on the Afghan Taliban previously, he said this was no longer true. “We now have supreme clarity. Your civil leadership, your military leadership, your intelligentsia, your media, the children of this country; there is absolute clarity about what the Afghan Taliban regime is,” he said, stressing the rest of the world also agreed.
“We are the bulwark state which is standing against this terrorism. It is not only Pakistan; the threat is to the whole region. Not to the whole region, to the whole world,” he said, maintaining “everyone” understands Pakistan’s actions were in self-defense and for the safety of its people.
He also maintained there were no political differences on the ongoing conflict. “Let there be no doubt—whatever political divisions we may have, whatever different political perspectives we may have; all political parties, all political leaderships are absolutely clear that no place can be given to terrorism and its facilitation in Pakistan,” he said, adding this was explicitly stated in the 2014 National Action Plan backed by all political parties.
Lt. Gen. Chaudhry also paid tribute to the police force of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. “Is there anyone who denies their sacrifices and martyrdom? Who is not standing with them? No one. The whole nation is together,” he said. “I must take this opportunity to give our biggest homage to the very brave and proud police of KP, which are on the frontline,” he said. “We are proud of them. The nation salutes them.”