Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director-General Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry on Wednesday emphasized that Pakistan’s airstrikes on various targets in Afghanistan were a response to the Afghan Taliban’s attacks on border posts and not started unilaterally.
In an interview with Geo News, he recalled that congregants at a mosque were martyred in Tarlai, alleging the attacker had come from Afghanistan where he had received training and preparation. Similarly, he said, attacks occurred in Wana and Bannu, targeting mosques, police and civilians, with all attackers coming from Afghanistan.
Maintaining the leaders of these terrorists were sheltered in Afghanistan, he made clear Pakistan had not imposed any war on Afghanistan. He said the war on terror was imposed on Pakistan, adding thousands of Pakistanis had been killed as the country fought the war for decades. To a question, he clarified that Pakistan had no issues with the people of Afghanistan, who he said were victims of the same group that was harming Pakistanis.
“They themselves are victims of their oppression, they themselves are under these warlords, who have imposed this war, who have no connection with Islam, they are on their mercy, they themselves are living under them,” he said, reiterating that Pakistani forces had targeted “terrorist hideouts” along the Pak-Afghan border last month. “We did not target Afghans; we targeted terrorists,” he said.
Subsequently, he said, the interim Afghan government’s forces had struck Pakistani posts at 53 locations. “They started it by attacking Pakistan along the border at regular posts, and this is our response,” he said of Operation Ghazab-lil-Haq, which is currently on pause due to Eidul Fitr.
Everyone must understand that Kabul initiated the conflict, he asserted, adding Islamabad was merely responding to the aggression. He said Pakistan had thus far conducted airstrikes at 81 locations, adding all these strikes targeted terrorist support infrastructure.
Lt. Gen. Chaudhry maintained Operation Ghazab-lil-Haq was making clear the cost of waging terrorism against Pakistan. “You can no longer carry out terrorism in Pakistan with impunity. You attack our posts, martyr our children, target our women, innocent people, our mosques … you will also pay the price. That must be understood, and that has already started,” he said.
To a question on talks with Afghanistan, he said Pakistan had never refused dialogue. “We have held talks with them multiple times—with friends, directly, and multilaterally. We have a very just demand, which our friendly countries acknowledge: you cannot say you will talk and at the same time send terrorists into our country. These two things cannot go together,” he said.
The DG ISPR alleged the interim Afghan government produced just two things: terrorism and drugs. “This is their business, and both are interlinked. Terrorism and the war economy are a way of life for them; that is how they thrive,” he said. “They have no connection with the religion of Islam. They call themselves an ‘emirate.’ Where in Islam is it written to commit terrorism? Where is it written to carry out suicide bombings? Suicide is haram in Islam. Does this have anything to do with Islam? Where is it written in Islam to oppress people for generations? Islam is against all this,” he said.
The military spokesman said Pakistan had no problem with Afghanistan so long as its leadership lived peacefully and lawfully. “But if you provide space to these terrorists and treat them as your own, then we have a problem. Their leadership and patrons will ultimately be brought to justice. Allah has destined for them hell in this world and the hereafter,” he said.
No rehab center
During the interview, the DG ISPR rejected the Afghan Taliban’s claims of an airstrike hitting a drug rehabilitation center, killing over 400 people, declaring it “ridiculous.” He maintained the military had targeted an ammunition storage depot, and questioned why a rehabilitation center was situated right next to ammunition storage. “Which hospital in the world is there that is made beside an ammo storage where you have kept missiles and ammunition. Why was it made? Because it was never there,” he said, maintaining the targeted location was a military camp and a drone storage site in Kabul.
“We hit the pinpoint location. The clip is still available, and the whole world saw secondary detonations because our intelligence was accurate and we struck an ammunition storage, which exploded,” he said. “When the ammunition exploded, people across Kabul saw flames rising, which lasted for some time because it was the ammunition,” he added, saying there were Soviet-era scud missiles and other stored ammunition that was destroyed.
He also questioned the legitimacy of the Afghan Taliban’s claims, noting they had recently claimed to capture a Pakistani pilot in civilian clothes. “The world knows they are discredited and dishonest,” he said, alleging further that the addicts at the rehab center was used to conduct suicide attacks.
“There is a fact the world must know: while all drug addicts are not suicide bombers, all suicide bombers are terrorists,” he said. “So the structure that was there, which was not our target, had stored materials. The secondary detonations caused the fire and the damage. That was a military-contained structure, which may have housed suicide bombers in training, or terrorists hidden there, or Afghan Taliban or so-called militia members. I don’t know exactly what they had stored,” he said.
On international media reports claiming civilian casualties, the military spokesman questioned how one differentiated a civilian from a Taliban fighter. “When our posts are attacked, some attackers wear uniforms, some wear Afghan Taliban military uniforms, while others, fighting alongside them, are in civilian clothes,” he said, maintaining Afghanistan was not like other states.
“It [Afghanistan] is a territory under the control of the Afghan Taliban, a terrorist organization, and a master terror proxy under which other groups operate,” he claimed, quoting a United Nations report which stated that 22 terrorist organizations were operating in the country. “Afghanistan has become the center for terrorists across the world, it’s a can of worms which Pakistan has pushed to close,” he said, adding Pakistan was fighting this war for the entire region and the world.
Drone strikes
On recent drone strikes in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and adjoining areas, Lt. Gen. Chaudhry said such technology supported Pakistan’s narrative that someone was providing these craft to the Taliban, pointing to India. “They are providing rudimentary drones so that their signatures can be claimed as not theirs,” he said, adding this highlighted the deep nexus between India’s intelligence agency and the Afghan Taliban.
According to the military spokesman, Islamabad’s sole aim is to ensure Afghanistan is not used as a base for terrorism inside Pakistan. “The choice has to be made by the Afghan Taliban regime: what is more important to them, TTP or Pakistan; is terrorism important or peace? They have to make a choice,” he said. “Every child in Pakistan knows that India is behind this terrorism, using Afghanistan as its base of operations. It is Indian-sponsored, funded terrorism whose base of operations is Afghanistan,” he added.