ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s military has killed nearly 800 fighters in an ongoing military operation against Afghanistan, Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Sunday, following a surge in militancy in Pakistan’s border regions.
Pakistan launched the military operation, Ghazab-lil-Haq, on Feb. 26, following repeated attacks, cross-border clashes as well as airstrikes inside Afghanistan. The fighting has been the most severe between the neighbors in decades.
Islamabad accuses Afghanistan of providing safe havens for militants who carry out attacks inside Pakistan, especially the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The group is separate but closely allied with the Afghan Taliban. Kabul denies the allegation.
Tarar said on Sunday Pakistani military had killed 796 TTP and Afghan Taliban fighters, injured another 1,043, destroyed 286 posts and captured 44 others, besides destroying 249 tanks, armored vehicles, artillery guns and drones, and targeted 81 locations across Afghanistan.
“As part of these operations on night 2/3 April, an attempt to physically attack a border post in Ghulam Khan Sector by Afghan Taliban/FAK (Fitna Al-Khawarij or TTP) was comprehensively foiled in which they suffered heavy casualties including up to 37 sent to hell and 80+ injured,” the information minister said on X.
The numbers could not be independently verified.
The fighting in February began when Afghanistan launched a cross-border raid into Pakistan, saying it was in retaliation for earlier Pakistani airstrikes on Afghan border areas that it said had killed only civilians. Islamabad had said the strikes were targeting militants.
In Feb., Pakistan declared that it was in “open war” with Afghanistan. The two sides declared a temporary truce last month before the Muslim holiday of Eid Al-Fitr, following mediation by Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Qatar. The truce expired and renewed fighting erupted on March 25.
China, which shares a western border with both nations, has been trying to mediate between the allies turned foes, holding telephone calls with their foreign ministers and sending a special envoy on visits in March.
“Both Pakistan and Afghanistan attach importance to, and welcome, China’s mediation, and are willing to sit down for talks again, which is a positive development,” foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a daily press conference on Friday.
Mao did not say where the talks were being held, though the neighbors have previously said they were in the northwestern city of Urumqi.
The recent fighting has upended a Qatari-mediated ceasefire in October that had halted earlier clashes between the two sides that had killed dozens of civilians, security forces and militants. The two sides differ widely on the casualty figures.
Peace talks held in Istanbul in November failed to reach a long-term solution.
